Nuked blood scandal could wreck £20bn Trident deal warns ex-MoD minister

03 May 2024 , 13:48

1162     0

Tom Watson told peers it would be hard to defend the ethical basis of nuclear weapons if the government was not honest with veterans

The continuing scandal of missing blood tests from UK troops could make it hard to convince the public about a £20bn deal to create new nuclear warheads, Parliament has been told.

Former defence minister Tom Watson said it would be hard to argue for the renewal of the Trident missile system, without full transparency on what befell the veterans who created it.

Now a Labour peer, he said thousands of hidden documents which may refer to atomic experiments on servicemen should be published to restore public trust, and make it possible to defend the cost and risks of the nuclear deterrent to voters.

Lord Watson said: “Our job will be made much easier if all test veteran records are made public, apologies made where appropriate, and compensation delivered where necessary... We have to defend public trust in the ethics of the new programme.”

* Veterans are crowdfunding a legal action to force the MoD to disclose what happened to the blood tests. To donate, go to: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nuclear-veterans-case/

He used the example of a memo about blood tests from Squadron Leader Terry Gledhill, who flew through mushroom clouds during nuclear trials at Christmas Island in 1958, and was found to have “gross irregularity” in his blood.

Michelle Mone's husband gifted Tories 'over £171k' as Covid PPE row rumbles on

It is among 4,000 pages of records about the weapons programme withheld from public view on grounds of national security, but declassified last week when a defence minister decided they were “innocuous”. Now it is at risk of being locked away again, as the result of a security review.

Veterans Terry Quinlan and Brian Unthank, and descendants Alan Owen and Steve Purse, pictured at Downing Street in March as they handed in a petition (Ian Vogler)

Peers compared the nuked blood scandal to similar outrages about sub-postmasters and infected blood, and accused the government of deliberately stalling on compensation for all three.

Lib Dem peer David Alton added that as sites used for the testing, such as Maralinga in South Australia, “are still regarded as uninhabitable, does that not in itself demonstrate people serving crown and country were placed in harm’s way?”

Defence minister the Earl Minto agreed that it did, but claimed no medical records were withheld.

He added a total of 2,569 veterans, and 1,776 next of kin, have received the nuclear test medal awarded last year as a result of a Mirror campaign.

Susie Boniface