From The Rt Hon. Geoffrey Hoon, MP Sir: Andrew Gilligan's
article was so full of inaccuracies that it is quite impossible to deal with all of them in one letter. A few of the wilder examples will have to suffice.
First, the idea that we are about to share our nuclear deterrent with France is pure fantasy. So is his assertion that we are mov- ing towards a 'Euro-bomb'.
Anglo-French nuclear co-operation is not new and has been going on for years. Indeed, we hope to announce shortly an exchange of port visits by British and French ballistic-missile submarines. But Andrew Gilligan's claims that British sub- marines would be based regularly at French ports — and that we are planning to embark on shared patrols — are wrong.
Second, he is also plain wrong to say that Trident is not independent. Britain's nucle- ar deterrent operates completely indepen- dently. Our Trident missiles are under the absolute control of Her Majesty's Govern- ment at all times.
Third, Mr Gilligan's claim that the com- munication systems which control the mis- siles' firing and flight are run by the Ameri- cans is false, as are his claims about the readiness and accuracy of our deterrent.
He gets even the most basic facts wrong. HMS Vanguard was not two thirds built in
the United States. Nor were the following three submarines copies of the US design. All four submarines were designed and built in this country, incorporating US equipment as necessary.
A more balanced and less grudging arti- cle might also have given the government more credit for the reductions we have announced in our nuclear deterrent. As Mr Gilligan pointed out, we have cut the num- ber of warheads deployed by 20 per cent and put Trident on a more relaxed operat- ing posture. However, he might also have mentioned that we have provided greater transparency about our stockpiles; we have placed surplus fissile material under inter- national safeguards, and set out that all future planned production of fissile materi- al in the UK will be under international safeguards (this goes further than any other nuclear weapon state); and we have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Kofi Annan has described our decision to reduce our stocks of nuclear warheads as 'an important step towards the general dis- armament envisaged in Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty'.
I do not expect Andrew Gilligan neces- sarily to agree with the government's poli- cy on Trident. He is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to make stories up.
Geoffrey Hooil
Secretary of State for Defence, Ministry of Defence, London SW1
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