Having ordered a “tea con leche” and a cheese toastie, Jeremy Corbyn sparks into life on his specialist subject: unilateral disarmament. “My views on nuclear weapons are well known and not changing,” he says. “I want to see us move to a nuclear-free world.” But there is a significant softening in his stance. Speaking exclusively to The Independent on Sunday, he says he now “recognises” that the Labour Party’s existing policy explicitly supports Trident and promises to “accommodate” those who want to vote for its renewal.
Independent 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Jeremy Corbyn, the U.K.’s left wing opposition leader, has been urged not to support scrapping Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Britain’s parliament will vote this year on whether it should renew its Trident nuclear weapon, which consists of four Vanguard-class submarines armed with Trident II D5 nuclear missiles, when it expires in the late 2020s. Labour currently supports renewing the weapon, but is reviewing that position. Corbyn, who has spent much of his political life in Britain’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), would like the party to advocate dropping the weapon. Michael Dugher, who lost his job as shadow culture secretary in Corbyn’s top team this month, said in a speech to party group Labour First on Saturday: “We tried unilateralism before. It ended in electoral disaster then. There is no evidence to suggest that it won’t end in disaster again,” The Guardian reports.
Newsweek 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Daily Record 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Trident: an illustrated guide to renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
Observer 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Jeremy Corbyn has said he will try to “accommodate” the different views within the Labour Party over the future of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Labour leader acknowledged that while he was committed to getting rid of it, current party policy was to go ahead with the renewal of the submarine fleet which carries the Trident missiles. While shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry has launched a review of Labour’s entire defence policy, he also accepted that there could be no change in the current position until the party conference in September.
Western Morning News 17th Jan 2016 read more »
The leader of the main opposition Labour Party says a reshuffle of his top team has brought the unity needed to “win elections and change our country for the better” – but he faces a struggle to convince his own lawmakers. Some Labour MPs say this month’s changes by Jeremy Corbyn have merely deepened divisions and herald the start of a battle over national security that could tear the party apart and leave it out of power for more than a decade.
Reuters 17th Jan 2016 read more »