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Margaret Thatcher’s government secretly considered stockpiling chemical weapons in the 1980s in response to the Soviet Union’s chemical arsenal, according to newly released official files.
Publicly ministers claimed that they had no plans to restore the nation’s chemical warfare (CW) capability, which had been voluntarily relinquished in the 1950s.
However files released this week show that, behind the scenes, Thatcher suggested the government could be considered “negligent” if it did not build its own chemical arsenal.
SOPHIE BOLT argues that spending more on military will harm rather than benefit Britain by diverting vital resources away from essential public services
We need a government that invests in saving lives not destroying them, argues SOPHIE BOLT
RITA DI SANTO talks to Scottish-Irish filmmaker MARK COUSINS about his new panorama of world cinema The Story of Documentary Film
Expanding Britain’s nuclear capability increases the risk of nuclear confrontation. It does not keep us safe – it makes us a target, argues CAROL TURNER