Yesterday, The Times published an interview with William Hague. Here’s how it reported his views on the defence budget and Trident:
‘The MoD budget was “not immune”. But he again pledged his party to upgrading the Trident nuclear deterrent.’
But today at his press conference, David Cameron said:
“having the best replacement there is for an independent nuclear deterrent – there are reasons for all of these things. But clearly, when you are reviewing spending, you have to review all spending”
It is hard to see how one can square these two positions. It would be instructive to know which line—Hague or Cameron’s—is actually party policy. As I’ve said before, scrapping or delaying the next generation of Trident would strike me as a huge mistake and demonstrate a lack of strategic seriousness on the part of the Tories.
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