Latest editorial
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.
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
For 80 years, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have pleaded “never again,” for anyone. But are we listening, asks Linda Pentz Gunter
