NIGEL WATERSON, NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

We are familiar with Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson’s views on the UK’s “independent nuclear deterrent”. However, our Flame of Hope initiative is not about unilateral nuclear disarmament. It is about our common hope for a world free from the menace of nuclear weapons.

This hope is exactly in line with Conservative Party policy.  It is not easy to find any reference to nuclear disarmament, multilateral or unilateral, in recent Party manifestos or on the official website.  However, the party has recently come far in realising that global nuclear disarmament is both preferential and possible.

The best source for recent Conservative Party thinking on this issue comes from a speech. “Preventing a New age of Nuclear insecurity” delivered by the party defence spokesman William Hague at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in July 2008.  He discussed how he believed the vision of a nuclear weapons-free world could be realised and emphasises that this is in so sense a party political issue.   In this he is part of a growing tide following statements by former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the then Minister of Defence Des Browne, and more recently by President Obama. His speech is a welcome addition to the growing international movement that supports the vision of zero nuclear weapons.

Here are some relevant extracts from the speech.

… there has been a resurgence of interest in nuclear weapons issues. On the other side of the Atlantic, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry and Sam Nunn have proposed an initiative to “reverse reliance on nuclear weapons globally…and ultimately end them as a threat to the world”, which has drawn attention from around the globe. It has given much needed intellectual force and impetus to the debate about how to make the world safer from nuclear weapons and has attracted the support of leading figures from the worlds of defence, politics and academia, including in this country. …

… The two US Presidential candidates have also both given major speeches on the need to make nuclear non-proliferation a higher priority. Senator McCain has committed himself to reducing the size of the US nuclear arsenal “to the lowest number” needed to maintain US security and commitments. Senator Obama has spoken of the need for “deep cuts” in US and Russian nuclear stockpiles. Both have embraced the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. We welcome the fact that these ideas are being debated in the United States, as the country with the largest number of operationally active nuclear warheads in the world and stockpiles second only to Russia, and whose weight and influence is indispensable to the success of any global initiative.

… Addressing the existence of stockpiles of nuclear weapons is an integral part of efforts to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons and a fundamental commitment under the NPT, which requires “negotiations in good faith on effective measures” on nuclear disarmament and on “a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control”.

… there needs to be strategic dialogue between Britain, the United States, France, Russia and China on how to achieve future reductions in nuclear stockpiles, on ways to reduce further the risk of nuclear

confrontation or accidental nuclear war, and how to make progress on our disarmament commitments in a way that strengthens the NPT.

… Reducing the risk posed by weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in particular is not a party political issue but a vital national interest which needs a common purpose and shared vision.

The speech is available on http://www.iiss.org.uk/recent-key-addresses/william-hague-address-jul-08/