The head of Britain’s Labour party on Sunday accused the country’s armed forces chief of an unconstitutional political intervention after the military boss said he would be “worried” by the opposition leader’s anti-nuclear stance.
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Sir Nicholas said that his concerns were for the credibility of the deterrent if there was a prime minister who had declared that he would never authorise its use.
Corbyn issued a statement expressing “serious concern” over Houghton’s statement, calling on Defence Secretary Michael Fallon to “take action”.
Shortly after he won the Labour leadership election in September, an unnamed serving general told The Sunday Times there would be “mutiny” if the left-wing leader became Prime Minister in 2020.
Sir Nicholas had been trying to make a point about deterrence in general, but “maybe strayed a little further than he should have done”, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He made clear he wasn’t talking about a personal thing.
However, Ms Eagle – who has her herself criticised Mr Corbyn’s remarks on the use of deterrent – insisted that the general was entitled to speak out on the issue. “And as the principle military adviser to the government, it’s reasonable for the chief of defence staff to talk about how we maintain the credibility of one of the most important tools in our armoury”.
Sir Nicholas appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, where he said he would “worry” if Mr Corbyn became Prime Minister with a commitment never to use Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
In a BBC interview with Andrew Marr, the Chief of the Defence Staff said the MP’s refusal to press the nuclear button under any circumstances would “seriously undermine” the deterrent’s credibility.
“The whole thing about deterrence rests on the credibility of its use”.
“The objective of the deterrent is that you don’t have to use it because you successfully deter”.
“It is essential in a democracy that the military remains political neutral at all times”, Corbyn said.
BuzzFeed News asked Corbyn’s spokesperson on Monday what they made of Downing Street’s defence of Houghton.
This is not the first time Mr Corbyn has clashed with the military.
Mr Corbyn, a leading member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, sparked a row with his shadow cabinet at his party’s annual conference when he revealed that would never press the “nuclear button” – and he has since praised Scottish Labour’s rejection of Trident.
“He was trying to be careful but he got bluffed into saying a little bit more than he should have done”.
But there was backing for the Labour leader from the Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Crispin Blunt, who said the general’s comments had overstepped the mark.
Sir Nicholas said not taking part in Syria airstrikes was like being asked to win a football match without going into the opponents’ half.
And he said he would be anxious if such a view “translated into power”.
Former navy chief Lord West has said he would quit Labour if Jeremy Corbyn adopted his pledge to scrap Trident as official party policy.
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“I don’t think it is appropriate for serving officers to make political points or engage in political debate”.
