Former UK Defense Chief: Modernizing UK Nuclear Deterrent on Shaky Ground

Modernization of the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent in the near future can be ensured only through the election of a Conservative government to replace the current parliamentary coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, Lord Des Browne, former UK Secretary of State for Defence and current vice chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told attendees of the Arms Control Association’s annual meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C. Facing budget austerity, UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s successor will likely hold off on modernizing the country’s nuclear deterrent, and instead defer to experts to research the necessity of modernization, Browne said. “I think that when they look at being the prime minister of a country and having to tell the people of the United Kingdom that a further three, or perhaps five years, of austerity face them with between £20 and 40 billion of cuts in annual expenditure, when a lot of people think we’ve already cut it, [then say], ‘Oh and by the way, I’m just about to spend £50 billion on replacing these [nuclear] bombs,’ that seems to be an improbable result from the general election in the United Kingdom, unless there is a majority of the Conservative party in government,” Browne said. “I think that’s the only possibility that will guarantee that will be the outcome. The likelihood is that if there was a change of prime minister, that prime minister will reach for the tool that most leaders do when these social challenges arise. They will have a review.” UK’s next parliamentary election is scheduled for May 7, 2015. Browne served as UK Secretary of State for Defence from 2006 to 2008.