Jeremy Corbyn is at odds with the military for the second time. On the Andrew Marr Show this morning, General Sir Nicholas Houghton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, expressed concerns about the Labour leader’s position on Trident — in particular that he would never press the button. ‘Well it would worry me if that thought was translated into power as it were,’ Houghton said, also noting ‘there’s a couple of hurdles to cross before we get to that’.
Although Houghton’s remarks may appear a little sinister, he explained his concerns about Corbyn were not personal. Instead, his aim is to ensure Britain has an effective nuclear deterrent:
‘But the reason I say this – and it’s not based on a personal thing at all, it’s purely based on the credibility of deterrence. The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use. When people say you’re never going to use the deterrent, what I say is you use the deterrent you know every second of every minute of every day and the purpose of the deterrent is that you don’t have to use it because you successfully deter.’
Corbyn isn’t at all happy about Houghton appearing to stick his oar into politics (even though he was simply explaining how the doctrine of nuclear deterrence works) and has released this statement, arguing it’s a constitutional matter:
‘It is a matter of serious concern that the Chief of the Defence Staff has today intervened directly in issues of political dispute.
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