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Now Keir Starmer Has to Decide If He’d Use Nukes

Becoming the British prime minister means giving top-secret orders—immediately—that could determine the fate of the world.

The Atlantic, By Brian Klaas, 5 July 24

Following a landslide victory for the Labour Party, Britain has a new leader. The moment Keir Starmer is officially made prime minister of the United Kingdom, he will be given a flurry of briefings, piles of documents, and the urgent business to run the country. Lurking among those papers is a moral land mine.

Starmer will be given a pen and four pieces of paper. On each paper, he must handwrite identical top-secret orders that—hopefully—no other human being will ever see. The previous set of orders, written by outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will then be destroyed, unopened. These top-secret papers are called the “letters of last resort.”

Since 1969, Britain’s nuclear deterrent has operated at sea, with nuclear missiles that could be launched from at least one continuously deployed submarine. Destroying those vessels would eliminate the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent, so the secrecy of the patrolling submarine’s location is paramount. Once deployed, the submarine may not transmit messages, only receive them, to maintain its crucial cloak of concealment………………………. (Subscribers only) more https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/07/british-election-nuclear-weapons/678919/

July 7, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, weapons and war