Is it too early to call this idiocy ‘Trident-Gate’?

Last Updated: January 24, 2017By

Michael Fallon refused to say if the test went wrong – even as CNN said it did [Image: Getty].

This will be awkward.

Theresa Mayfly will be flying over to Washington DC soon, to be the first foreign leader to have a meeting with new US President Donald Trump, and what has he done?

His administration has admitted that a British nuclear missile test failed catastrophically, even while Mrs May’s defence minister, Michael Fallonyoursword, refused more than 12 times to confirm or deny the story.

I wonder what Mr Trump (I need a good nickname for him) and Mrs Mayfly will discuss?

I mean, normal people wouldn’t contemplate a trade deal when one of them had just admitted that their most expensive product – Trident is costing us more than £200 billion, people – doesn’t work… Embarrassing the other one in the process.

But they’re not normal, are they? And it isn’t their money on the line, is it?

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon faced derision from MPs – even a prominent Tory, those who back Trident and Speaker John Bercow – after being warned his silence undermined Britain’s nuclear arsenal.

He confirmed there was a “routine unarmed Trident missile test launch” last June, just a month before MPs voted to renew the £31bn nuclear weapons system.

Yet he refused more than a dozen times to confirm or deny details in the Sunday Times, which said the missile veered off course towards America.

Farcically, even as he was speaking, CNN revealed claims by a US source saying the test DID go wrong – and its veering off-course was part of a self-destruct sequence.

Source: Trident ‘misfire’ farce as Theresa May’s Defence Secretary refuses repeatedly to say if nuclear missile test went wrong

Needless to say, some of our friends on Twitter have been having the time of their lives.

Even the usually stoically pro-Tory YouGov polling firm has said the public want the facts:

Commons Speaker John Bercow was overheard commenting on Mr Fallon’s stupidity:

And some concentrated on the consequences of Trident renewal:

This Writer responded to that last one, and I stand by my words:

“So they’d rather have power but risk losing it due to the lack of any viable defence, than have a viable defence? Lunacy.”

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14 Comments

  1. Stu January 24, 2017 at 6:52 am - Reply

    The Lockheed Snake Oil Salesmen must be rubbing their hands with glee.

    Making multi-billions from the UK for a non-functional Trident system (refitted recently in Dec 2015) as well as flogging us loads of F-35 aircraft with new problems occurring every single day according to the RAF.

    P.S, Trump needs no nickname, we all know in the UK that a Trump is something offensive emanating from an a**hole.

    • Mike Sivier January 24, 2017 at 10:52 am - Reply

      Your point about the system being refitted in December 2015 is an excellent one.
      People have been saying the debate was about buying an updated system, but this shows that the system has been updated – and didn’t work.

    • Jackie Cairns January 24, 2017 at 12:49 pm - Reply

      Good name Trumpedontheresamaysparade.

  2. Mikey January 24, 2017 at 7:57 am - Reply

    “I wonder what Mr Trump (I need a good nickname for him) and Mrs Mayfly will discuss?”

    This was in a Guardian forum but suits him so much – Grumpy Trumpy

    • Mike Sivier January 24, 2017 at 10:49 am - Reply

      I LIKE it!

  3. wildswimmerpete January 24, 2017 at 10:10 am - Reply

    Mike “I need a good nickname for him” – how about Big Chief Breaking Wind?

    • Mike Sivier January 24, 2017 at 10:48 am - Reply

      I don’t like it because it associates him with Native Americans, and not in a decent way.

      • wildswimmerpete January 24, 2017 at 1:34 pm - Reply

        Point taken Mike. How about just using his given name: Drumpf? I understand he loathes it.

        • Mike Sivier January 24, 2017 at 2:01 pm - Reply

          That’s a possibility.

  4. Signor tbf January 24, 2017 at 11:09 am - Reply

    MIKE

    Just call him Donald T Rump or Mr T Rump. Or Windy Miller (from Trumpton).

    Steve

  5. mohandeer January 24, 2017 at 12:13 pm - Reply

    Withholding pertinent information is just a polite way of saying he/she lied his/her socks off

  6. hellsbells46 January 24, 2017 at 6:08 pm - Reply

    I quite like “Donny Tiny Hands” myself ???

  7. Barry Davies January 24, 2017 at 6:35 pm - Reply

    The idea of tests is to well, test, you can learn more from a failed test than you can from one which goes completely to plan, and the missile would have been destroyed no matter what they are after all single use weapons.

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