Yet again, nuclear defence and Trident is topical.
During Jeremy Corbyn’s recent speech at Glastonbury, the Labour leader covered a multitude of issues including education, housing, the environment, pensions, refugees, Donald Trump, foreign policy and the economy.
While on stage, he did not mention nuclear weapons.
This being said, the issue of Trident – Britain’s policy that covers the development, procurement and operation of the current generation of nuclear weapons – appeared in the media over the weekend after the news site Somerset Live published details of a Q&A that involved the founder of the Glastonbury festival, Michael Eavis.
In this piece, it’s reported that Michael Eavis had asked Corbyn: “When are you going to get rid of Trident?,” to which Corbyn allegedly replied,: “As soon as I can.”
Since these comments were published, Labour have stated that the quotes attributed to Eavis had paraphrased a conversation that he had with Corbyn. Labour also reiterated that this conversation did not fully reflect Corbyn’s position or the party’s position on Trident, which has remained unchanged from their 2017 manifesto.
As the TV debates showed, Corbyn has been consistent in his opposition to nuclear weapons, but he’s willing to support the party line regarding Trident.
An audience member says he is 'incredibly concerned' by Jeremy Corbyn's stated opposition to using nuclear weapons #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/ZW8FNTuBgr
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 2, 2017
Once again, it’s worth noting that Corbyn made no mention of nuclear weapons during his time on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.
The story emerged from one source, Somerset Live and has since been picked up elsewhere.
This being said, Boris Johnson was steadfast in his belief that Britain’s “friends and admirers from around the world” were alarmed that Corbyn would use his appearance at Glastonbury to announce Britain’s intentions to relinquish their nuclear defence.
Yet again, Corbyn made no mention of nuclear defence during his speech on stage.
The BBC clip below even mentions the fact that the the quotes were “reportedly said” by Eavis, a point that Jamie Carragher was quick to highlight.
.@BorisJohnson has his say on @jeremycorbyn's appearance at the "Glah-stonbury" festival. #Glastonbury2017 pic.twitter.com/ws3fkWIcyT
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 27, 2017
And it's a lie, so put that in the tweet instead of the end of the video. https://t.co/2txGmlssmx
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) June 27, 2017
