Originally Posted by
Finningley Boy
Indeed, NATO was very much championed by Attlee and Bevin etc, along with the introduction of the nuclear deterrent. But, Bevan and others were keener to seek ties with Moscow. MRCA was started under Labour after they had ditched TSR2, F-111 and AVGF. That Labour Government also cancelled the two CVA-01 Carriers and reduced the Navy order for 120 Phantoms to about 28. Tornado was announced by Defence Secretary Denis Healy when it was MRCA, when it was Tornado, its development was continued through the Wilson and Callaghan governments, however, a Labour Defence Study Group recommended its complete abandonment and running on the Phantom and Jaguar to an indeterminable point in the future. This advice, indeed, was ignored. Tornado was eventually introduced into service by Margaret Thatcher's government and the full order of 385 aircraft was purchased. Through this era, Labour had introduced and were promising unilateral disarmament and heavy defence cuts and the removal of US nuclear weapons in the UK.
FB
Can't let you get away with that neat piece of political propaganda
Finningley Boy! Attlee and Bevin did indeed champion NATO but their seeking ties with Moscow was well over and done with by the time NATO was formed and the nature of the Stalin regime had become clear. The Tories would also have ditched TSR-2, it was doomed whichever flavour of party was in power come 1965. Labour did indeed cancel F-111K because of the huge financial problems that the UK was facing by then after devaluation of 1967. The outgoing Tory Chancellor was the TRUE originator of the 'theirs no money left' message. By AVGF I assume you mean AFVG, the Anglo French Variable Geometry project? If you do then it was not cancelled by Labour, the French pulled out to pursue their own Mirage VG leaving Labour to continue the project on as the UKAVG, this was not only only never cancelled but went on to become MRCA, perhaps the most successful British post war aircraft project? This Labour Study Group was nothing but a small extreme left element of the Labour Party who were never anywhere near power or policy, and only ever published a paperback book of their broader ideas, which did indeed call for cancellation of the MRCA, Harrier, major surface units and withdrawal from NATO. They were never in a position to offer 'advice' and were never even acknowledged by the by the PM or Defence Sec or even the Chancellor, let alone taken seriously.
When he was Defence Secretary Healey, and Wilson as PM, didn't ever really want to cancel F-111k or pull out of the Far East, they were forced to by the ever growing financial crisis that the UK was going through at the time. There were severe expenditure cuts right across Government, not just Defence.
Your little political snipe about this 'era' again replaces official Labour Party policy with the rhetoric of the Far left, who were never anywhere near power or policy. Wilson did not contend with the unilateralists, and his opinion of the nuclear deterrent was rapidly changed when he was voted in to power in 1964 and he became a firm supporter of the CASD, to the point of it being Labour who instigated the massive Chevaline project that equipped Polaris with MIRV and decoys and new UK designed and built warheads.
On coming to power for a second time in 1974 the Labour Defence cuts of that period were launched on the back of continuous Tory cuts in the defence budget; £66m in 1971, £82m in 1972, £163m in 1973 and £740m in 1974 in 3 tranches with a further £97m planned for after the election. Even that so called forces favourite Thatcher cut the defence budget in 1980, cancelling amongst other things Active Skyflash, Mark 2 Sea Dart and the third Lighting squadron, and all that before the truly disastrous Nott cuts of 1981, which promised so much damage to the RN that the Argentinians can only have been encouraged by what they saw.