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Thatcher secretly wanted to restock chemical weapons
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.
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