Newly minted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has revealed he will continue the foreign policy of the outgoing Conservative Party government, including the UK’s implicit doctrine of an offensive “first use” nuclear strike on its adversaries.
“Questioned on 3 June at a campaign hustings in the marginal town of Bury, Starmer said: ‘Of course I would be prepared to use’ nuclear weapons,” reported journalist Richard Norton-Taylor for the website Declassified UK. “Surrounded by candidates who were armed forces veterans, the Labour leader doubled down: ‘It’s a vital part of our defence. And of course, that means we have to be prepared to use it.’”
But British military doctrine, with the purported rationale of “the defence of NATO,” explicitly permits the country to initiate a nuclear exchange.
“The UK does not have a policy of ‘no-first use,’” notes the official government House of Commons Library, meaning the country permits the use of nuclear weapons against adversaries who do not represent a nuclear threat.
“The 2021 Integrated Review announced that the 2010 [nuclear disarmament] commitments could no longer be met due to the current security environment,” the document continues, without defining the circumstances it puts forward as an excuse to announce the expansion of its nuclear stockpile by 40%.
“As such, it announced that the cap on the nuclear stockpile will now be raised and that information on operational stockpile, deployed missiles and deployed warheads would no longer be made available.”
“[Starmer’s] rhetoric reinforces his key message: the Labour Party has ‘changed,’” Norton-Taylor writes, explaining the new party leader’s efforts to distinguish himself from previous leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn drew the ire of the British ruling class for his criticism of Western militarism, criticizing the Israeli colonization of Palestine and the UK’s support for the US war on Iraq.
The London minister of parliament once clarified former Prime Minister Tony Blair should stand trial on war crimes charges if found guilty of violating international law during the UK’s deployment across the Middle East. A study by Brown University has found at least 4.5 million people have died as a result of the US-led War on Terror.
Nevertheless, the UK remains committed to expanding its nuclear stockpile, threatening to drive the global death toll even higher.
“Each Trident submarine carries eight missiles with a maximum of 40 warheads, containing more firepower than all the bombs dropped in World War II, including those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” writes Norton-Taylor, describing the capabilities of the UK’s nuclear “deterrence” system.
The author suggests the maintenance of the country’s stockpile may actually threaten to undermine its national security as the UK pours hundreds of billions of dollars into the program while the quality of life of Britons declines. The Atlantic magazine recently noted the UK has become “one of the poorest countries in Western Europe,” raising the prospect of internal destabilization and political collapse as working-class citizens realize their government works against their interests.
The nuclear program also undermines British sovereignty as the country relies on US nuclear technology. “Britain’s dependency on the US has been repeatedly enshrined,” Norton-Taylor writes, describing a secret UK government agreement to establish a bomber base on British colonial territory in the Indian Ocean.
The United States has continued to work to subvert British politics, ensuring the UK itself remains a colonial territory of the US security state.
“We won’t wait for [Jeremy Corbyn] to do those things to begin to push back,” said former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a leaked recording of comments made to pro-Israel leaders during a trip to the UK.
“We will do our level best. It’s too risky and too important and too hard once it’s already happened,” he continued, suggesting the former CIA director would work behind the scenes to prevent Corbyn’s election.
The depth of Pompeo’s interference remains to be revealed, although evidence suggests British intelligence played a substantial role in working to defeat Corbyn and boosting the political fortunes of new Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Starmer has returned the favor by loyally pledging to unleash nuclear annihilation on any perceived enemy of Western hegemony at his MI6 handlers’ request.