Sir Michael Fallon is expected to be quizzed by MPs today over claims Downing Street covered up a Trident missile test failure just weeks before a crucial Commons vote.
The Defence Secretary is likely to be forced to make a Commons statement or answer an urgent question after Theresa May refused four times in a TV interview to say whether she knew about the malfunction.
The Sunday Times has revealed that a Trident II D5 missile veered off course after being launched from the British submarine HMS Vengeance off the coast of Florida in June last year.
It happened only weeks before Mrs May became Prime Minister - but she made no mention of the failed test when she persuaded Parliament to spend £40bn on new Trident submarines on 18 July.
After five-hours of debate, MPs voted in favour of renewing Trident by 472 votes to 117, a majority of 355, on a motion backed by almost the entire Conservative Party and more than half of Labour MPs.
But it was opposed by all Scottish National Party MPs, the Lib Dems and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong unilateralist who spoke out strongly against Trident during the debate.
:: Alistair Bunkall - Why the Trident 'cover-up' only makes things worse
Asked in an interview on the Andrew Marr Show if she knew about the test failure when she spoke in the debate, which was one of her first big tests as PM, Mrs May repeatedly refused to answer.
"I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles," she said.
"It was about whether or not we should renew Trident, whether we should look to the future and have a replacement Trident.
"I think we should defend our country, I think we should play our role in NATO with an independent nuclear deterrent. Jeremy Corbyn thinks differently."
Pressed three more times on whether or not she knew about the missile failure, Mrs May again dodged the question, saying: "There are tests that take place all the time regularly for our nuclear deterrents.
No comments:
Post a Comment