AFTER days of protest last week, we finally saw the last of Donald Trump as he flew off, back to the strife-ridden and increasingly authoritarian US of A. Unfortunately, he has left a particularly nasty legacy behind: new nuclear weapons at Lakenheath air base in Suffolk.

In case you missed this piece of bad news, in among all the rest, the new nuclear bombs have now been delivered, direct to East Anglia, to what is essentially a little piece of the US, masquerading as an RAF base.

Despite the dangers this deployment brings, there has been no announcement from the government on the subject nor any discussion in Parliament.

Polling in May found that 61 per cent of the British public are opposed to US nuclear weapons being stationed in the country, but I wonder how many people actually know about their arrival and the risks and dangers that they bring?

Their arrival comes amid escalating tensions between Nato and Russia. This raises the dangers of the bombs stationed at Lakenheath being used in the event of the escalation turning into a hot war.

Not surprisingly, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), alongside the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace (LAP), organised a “Kick out Trump’s Nukes” demo on Saturday September 20.

This is the latest in a series of LAP-CND actions over the last few years that have included vigils, rallies, peace camps, and an international peace conference in the local village hall.

The demonstrators were determined to raise public awareness of what is taking place in the beautiful byways of Suffolk. As Ginnie Herbert, an LAP activist from Oxford said, “There are nuclear weapons now sitting in our midst, making us a target. Do people know? They need to!”

Saturday’s protest was another step in that direction.

But the demonstrators had another crucial aim: to take their message of opposition to those who run the base and are therefore complicit. That opposition rang out loud and clear, while attempts were made to hand in a letter of protest to the base commander.

As well as highlighting the nuclear issue, the letter also pointed out that Lakenheath isn’t only a nuclear risk: US air force pilots based at Lakenheath have also flown missions in support of Israel’s military.

Following the recent announcement from a UN commission of inquiry that Israel is committing four out of the five “genocidal acts” defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, CND believes that the Suffolk base could now be in breach of the convention.

You might think handing in a letter was a simple matter. Our delegation of two activists presenting the letter to the police was met by a wall of silence. After crossing the “white line” to demand a response, our delegation was finally acknowledged and told to put the letter in the post! Not to be deterred, they left the letter within the base perimeter.

The good vibes from the protest were reinforced by powerful speeches, together with open-mic contributions from protesters and messages from the Norwich Peace Camp and Lindsey German from the Stop the War Coalition.

Senior trade unionist Sam Mason spoke about the recent “wages not weapons” victory at TUC conference and the CND-RMT Alternative Defence Review; Tony Staunton, CND activist from Plymouth, spoke about how Keir Starmer’s war drive is fuelling the far right, and how CND is mobilising against it; CND’s general secretary, Sophie Bolt spoke about nuclear escalation, saying, “We need to break this dangerous military alliance with the US, kick out Trump’s nukes, and close the Nato network of bases in Britain.”

She also announced a national demonstration at RAF Marham on Saturday February 28 2026, where Starmer’s latest purchase — F-35A nuclear-capable jets — will be stationed.

There is much to do. Help us build the opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear war. The time is now.

The RAF-USAF Lakenheath base has vigils on the last Saturday of each month (except December), and there will be a peace camp from April 1-6 2026, and the RAF Marham base will face a national demonstration on Saturday February 28 2026. Visit cnduk.org to find out more.