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Defence in the World

I am grateful to accept the hon. Gentleman’s advice. It adds strength to my argument: we need much wider debate before we rush in and make a decision. I do not say that as a member of CND like my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East and Wallsend (Mr. Brown). I have never been a member of CND—it is bad enough keeping up with the Labour party, never mind CND—but we need to engage in debate. Why are we being pushed into an early decision? I may be a little paranoid, but I see a Prime Minister who has been supportive of the defence establishment coming to the end of his term of office, and I see pressure being brought to bear on him by the industrial military establishment to get the decision through now. That establishment knows full well that a successor Prime Minister might take a more enlightened view—in my opinion—of what is needed for a British nuclear deterrent. That does not mean that there will be no deterrent, but that all other options will be explored, so that people are not bounced into a decision that they may come to regret.