When Nick Harvey was sacked in September’s reshuffle, leaving the Ministry of Defence without a Liberal Democrat minister, anti-nuclear campaigners and the SNP claimed the move put the future of the review into alternatives to the current Trident nuclear deterrent in doubt. To underline the review’s security, the party announced at the start of its autumn conference two weeks later that Danny Alexander would lead it instead.
But though the review may be continuing, it appears rather insecure in one crucial respect, which is whether anyone will actually pay it the blindest bit of attention. Today Philip Hammond announced a further £350 million of funding for the design of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines. Running a review on alternatives when the government is funding the development of the current choice does appear a bit like leaving the Lib Dems to play a game of Water, Gas, Electricity, and hoping it will keen them busy for the next few years.
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