Jeremy Corbyn has refused to rule out unilaterally scrapping Britain’s nuclear weapons and said he might not militarily defend Nato allies if he was Prime Minister.
The Labour leader said he wants to see the arms ditched ‘as quickly as possible’ and he is ‘totally on the case’ to abolish them.
And he heavily hinted that he would be unwilling to send tanks and troops in to help our Nato allies in a war, might just give diplomatic or economic ‘solidarity’ instead.
Mr Corbyn made the case for Britain to dramatically draw down its military might amid fears the world is on the brink of war as tensions between North Korea and the US flare.
Jeremy Corbyn, pictured at the Labour Party conference yesterday, said he wants a nuclear free world and raised serous questions over his willingness to come to the military support of Britain’s Nato allies if he is PM
His comments risk reopening deep splits in his party over its stance on Britain’s Trident deterrent, which Labour officially backs despite Mr Corbyn’s personal opposition.
And they will alarm Britain’s Nato allies, particularly in Eastern Europe where Russia is showing renewed signs of aggression and has recently carried out its biggest military manouvres since Soviet times.
Mr Corbyn has spent his entire political career campaigning against nuclear weapons and his views are far more pacifist than most of his MPs and union backers.
In an interview with CNN aired during his party’s conference, Mr Corbyn said the growing risk of a devastating nuclear war between the US and North Korea is a case for ditching the weapons altogether.
He said: ‘I think the tragedy in all this is that Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have been using sirens to talk to each other.
‘And the language is getting worse and worse and the threats are getting worse and worse. I think it’s wholly wrong that North Korea develops nuclear weapons.
‘I would hope the UN would ask for cessation of the verbal hostilities and ask the general secretary to speak directly to Trump, directly to Kim Jong Un and try and wind down the rhetoric.
‘Because if anybody, anybody fires off any weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear weapon, against anybody, it won’t stop at national borders.’
The Labour leader said he wants to live in a ‘nuclear free world’ and wants swift ‘multilateral disarmament’.
‘But it has got to be now, it has got to be urgent and it’s got to be, I think, through the UN’, he added.
Pressed on his own nuclear policy, Mr Corbyn said Labour’s manifesto commitment was to ‘work for a nuclear-free world’.
He continued: ‘We haven’t written the manifesto for the next election yet. But that was what was in the manifesto in which we just gained nearly 13 million votes. But we’re very clear – very, very clear – that nuclear weapons really must be negotiated away as quickly as possible.
There are growing fears the world could be plunged into war as the tensions between the US and North Korea are ratcheted up
‘Look at the danger now with very small-scale nuclear weapons in North Korea. And obviously incredibly powerful nuclear weapons held by the United States.
‘We have to wind down the rhetoric quickly. And now and as a member of the Security Council, Britain obviously has a contribution and a part to play in that.’
The Labour leader, who has spent his long career in Parliament voting against foreign intervention, also cast serious doubts over his willingness to militarily help Britain’s closest allies.
He suggested the Nato alliance – the foundation of world security and peace after the Second World War – should not mean militarily support.
He said: ‘The Nato charter asks for acts of solidarity and support. It is not necessarily military; it can be diplomatic. It can be economic. It can be a lot of things.’
Mr Corbyn called for dialogue to ‘de-intensify the stress’ on the borders between Nato and Russia.