United Kingdom: Labour divided over Corbyn nuclear comments

A Labour supporter who heckled Jeremy Corbyn at a Labour Friends of Israel reception has explained his reasons for shouting at the party leader.

Mr Corbyn was asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if he would use nuclear weapons as prime minister.

“As with every other new Labour leader, I offered it to Corbyn shortly after his election”.

Speaking to reporters at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton on Tuesday afternoon, Corbyn said the problems facing the world are not large scale wars but “random acts of terrorism”. “That is not leadership”.

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Vic Turton, who competed in the Halton constituency and Appleton ward local elections this year, has written a letter to Mr Corbyn expounding his theory as to their similarities.

Mr Foster did not respond to the JC’s requests for a comment on Wednesday.

Labour lost all but one of its 41 MPs in Scotland at the general election to the SNP.

Labour delegates yesterday approved the party’s “Britain in the World” policy document, which makes clear the party’s “commitment to a minimum, credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent”.

“I think there’s quite a long way to go before we actually reach that conclusion and a decision”. As far as I’m concerned we start from the policy we have and at the end of the process the party will decide what its policy is.

Though Corbyn is personally opposed to Trident’s renewal, much of Labour’s newly assembled shadow cabinet support it.

Prior to his arrival in Edinburgh, he stated: “Kezia Dugdale is leader of our party in Scotland and I will be working alongside her to win back support for Labour”. He demanded Corbyn declare his stance on the nuclear deterrent during his first official trip to Scotland.

As Tories gathered for a conference set to be dominated by Europe and the crisis in Syria, Mr Cameron said he was “calmly and rationally” attempting to persuade European counterparts to back his drive for reform ahead of an in/out referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

Corbyn said he believed it was “immoral” to have or use nuclear weapons.

These instructions can either be to launch a nuclear attack, to stand down, to assist a surviving allied power, or for the captain to use their judgement.

“If the position is that the defensive posture of the United Kingdom is to continue to rely on Trident – which I believe that it should be – that is only effective if the head of government accepts that that is the way that it is done, continues to accept the position that there may be circumstances in which it is used”, he told BBC2’s Newsnight.