British Labor talks nukes to banish Corbyn’s shadow – POLITICO

In line with Western nuclear doctrine, Starmer has not specified the circumstances in which he would actually use Britain’s nuclear arsenal – at the center of which is the Trident nuclear submarine program based in Scotland.

But that pledge alone was a telling moment of the campaign – and an important moment for Starmer, who sought to define himself in relation to Corbyn, the NATO skeptic and lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons who moved the Labor Party towards the left from 2015 to 2015. 2019.

Corby Distance

Corbyn was a long-time supporter of the anti-nuclear campaign for nuclear disarmament and voted against renewing Trident in 2016, after giving his MPs a free vote on the issue. However, despite his own views, he did not change his party’s overall position on nuclear deterrence, and Labor manifestos under Corbyn did not commit to abandoning Trident.

But Corbyn was criticized when, in one of his first interviews as Labor leader in 2015, he said he would instruct Britain’s defense chiefs never to use nuclear weapons. he became Prime Minister. “I am opposed to the use of nuclear weapons,” he said at the time. “I am opposed to the possession of nuclear weapons. I want to see a world without nuclear weapons. I believe it is possible.”

Starmer, who served under Corbyn as a shadow minister, has tried to distance himself from his former boss since becoming leader – although he initially brought up his ‘friend’s’ politics as he ran for party leadership in 2020. Corbyn has since been expelled from the party. celebration.

Speaking on Monday, Starmer sought to hammer home the new direction of the party under his leadership.