We had a corking discussion on North Korea and also whether we should renew Trident on my LBC show tonight. But I was very concerned by the number of people who sincerely appear to believe that America is at the centre of all evil in today’s world. Sure, America isn’t perfect but according to some of my listeners it is the aggressor in the North Korean conflict and intends to invade the country at the first available opportunity. And it isn’t even a full moon! I really wonder where these people get their views from. I had a very tetchy interview with Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition – more commonly known as the Provisional Wing of the Socialist Workers’ Party. He wasn’t at all interested in the bellicose statements emanating from North Korea. Naturally not. No, all he wanted to do was slag off the US. I think he got as good as he gave.
Later on we moved onto discussing whether we should spend £100 bn or so on upgrading Trident. During the cold war I was always an advocate of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. It has helped keep the peace for a good few decades, as the NATO Secretary General recognised today in a letter to Philip Hammond. However, I think we now need a year long national debate about Britain’s place in the world, our defence capabilities and whether we really want to commit to a long term international role akin to the one we have had all my adult life. Because if we do, we have to fund it properly. I am horrified by the cuts in our conventional armed forces. They can only be sensible if we are to reduce our international role. And if we do that maybe, just maybe we don’t need Trident. But make no mistake, if we dispense with it, and any sort of nuclear deterrent, we become a national of ever declining world influence and importance. If we want to be another Poland or Spain, that’s fine, but I’m not sure we do.
The North Korean situation makes me lean towards keeping our nuclear deterrent, along with the fact that we have no ideas who our potential enemies might be in twenty years’ time. But if we do, let’s stop bleating about the cost. Defending a nation costs good money. The Liberal Democrat position on this is so hypocritical as to be almost nauseating. Nick Clegg deliberately withdrew LibDem ministers from the FCO and MoD knowing the decision on Trident was approaching. And now he says that while they believe in a nuclear deterrent, they don’t want Trident. Conveniently they have no ready made alternative. So they straddle the fence both sides as usual. Sometimes they really do need to grow a spine.
