Boris Johnson named as potential witness in Nuked Blood Scandal crimes against troops
Boris Johnson has been named as a potential witness to a criminal cover-up at the heart of the British state.
The former PM's name appears, alongside others, in evidence handed to Thames Valley Police, which is considering whether to launch a full investigation. Detectives have been urged to question him about a secret programme of human radiation experiments on servicemen, the results of which have been withheld from their personnel files.
The Nuked Blood Scandal - involving blood tests taken from troops before, during and after service at Cold War nuclear weapons trials - has led to a formal allegation of misconduct in public office centred on the Ministry of Defence.
If convicted, such a charge is likely to lead to a sentence of 3 or 4 years' in jail for any public official who has acted unlawfully in post, with harm caused to others as a result. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: "Veterans and their families have been serving a life sentence of their own. Chronic illness, cancers, birth defects, bereavement, miscarriage, trauma, suicide - much of it avoidable, and all of it more treatable, had they been told what really happened.
"Instead they had decades of denial from successive governments. Boris was the first PM to sit down and look us in the eye, and now we ask him to do the right thing once again. and help the veterans get the justice they have for so long been denied."
Mr Johnson was first informed of the scandal by the Mirror during a showdown in his Parliamentary office in June 2022, when he was asked to authorise a nuclear test medal. We showed him a 1958 memo between atomic scientists discussing the "gross irregularity" in the blood tests of a squadron leader who had been ordered to fly through mushroom clouds.
We told the PM - in front of witnesses who included ministers, Downing Street officials, and backbench MPs - that the officer's medical records were being unlawfully withheld, and that was potentially a criminal offence.
"Yes it is," he agreed, before studying the memo and asking the Mirror where the records had been hidden. It is not known what action he took as a result of the information he had been given. His representatives have been asked for comment.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who is also named as a potential witness, confirmed he would speak to the police if asked. He said: "Just as with infected blood, I believe senior politicians have been witnesses to a live and ongoing cover-up affecting our nuclear test veterans. If the police decide to investigate, it is incumbent upon all of us to co-operate fully and tell officers what we know. Politicians must have the courage to step forward and end Whitehall's culture of cover-up."
Victims Commissioner demands police investigate allegations of Nuked Blood cover-up
Other names on the list of potential witnesses include lawyers who provided sworn testimony, submissions to judges and written evidence handed in to court, stating that blood testing of troops did not take place, no documentation about it existed, and all relevant records had been disclosed. Thousands of pages of orders, discussion and results have since been uncovered, and a huge database is due to be declassified.
Keir Starmer, who was first informed of missing medical records while Leader of the Opposition, is also on the list, along with Defence Secretary John Healey and Veterans Minister Al Carns. Downing Street, the MoD, and Government Legal Department all declined to answer the question of whether they would co-operate with any investigation.
A government spokesman said: "These claims are false and there is no evidence to back this up. The Minister for Veterans and People has commissioned officials to look seriously into unresolved questions regarding medical records as a priority. This comprehensive work is underway and will enable us to better understand what information the department holds in relation to the medical testing of service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests."
Former Conservative ministers, and staff at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, have also been identified to police as people who may be able to shed light on who knew about the blood testing, and what was done about it in government.
Campaigners say all the people they have named were told, or should have known, there was evidence of criminal behaviour within the MoD, and taken steps to report it to police.
A ministerial review of the records has so far checked more than a million pages of documents, including orders for blood testing, but the government has refused to tell Parliament what has been found.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Aggression only leads to defeat, Taiwan president says on world war anniversary
TAIPEI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Aggression only leads to defeat and as authoritarianism once again gathers strength, it is important that freedom and democracy prevail, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Friday marking the end of World War Two, in a pointed message to Beijing. Taiwan has this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China, which views the democratic island as its own territory, to show how aggression will end in failure, and to remind the world it was not the government now in Beijing that won the war. The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, part of the U.S., British and Russian-led alliance, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan, putting on pause a bitter civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists whose military also fought the Japanese. The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao, and Republic of China remains the democratic island's official name. Late on Thursday, Taiwan said it had banned government officials from attending next month's military parade planned by Beijing to mark the end of World War Two, along with former senior defence, intelligence and diplomatic officials, though that does not include ordinary members of the public. If former officials insist on going, penalties would include the revocation of pensions, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Office said. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a post on his Facebook account that did not directly mention China, Lai said the war served as a stark reminder to the world that peace is priceless and war has no winners. "World War Two was a catastrophe in history, triggered by the personal ambitions of a few dictators, extreme ideologies and military expansionism," he wrote. Today, people in Taiwan take freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity for granted, but lessons from history must be learned, Lai added. "The most valuable lesson of World War Two is that unity leads to victory, while aggression leads to defeat." China labels Lai a "separatist", and has ramped up military activities around the island, including holding large-scale war games. Lai rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
The Herald Scotland
33 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
So Nicola Sturgeon achieved nothing? What a load of nonsense
I have not read the memoir - time has not permitted. And the noisy reaction from some quarters has been of no real interest – it has not triggered any impulse to delve deeper to find out what the fuss is about. All of this sound and fury is to be expected, and much of it has come from people with political views very different to those of the former first minister or from those at odds with Ms Sturgeon on particular issues. The publication of the memoir has, however, also led to assessments of what Ms Sturgeon achieved during her long time as first minister, from November 2014 to March 2023. And this, from a personal perspective, is a more interesting aspect. It has seemed that many people have been almost falling over themselves to flag their withering opinions on this front, with a black-and-white view that 'nothing' or close to nothing was achieved. From a business and economic perspective, and from a societal point of view, that seems like a most unfair conclusion. Thankfully, some assessments have been more positive, but these seem to have been drowned out somewhat. Ms Sturgeon's relationship with the business community, certainly from the perspective of the latter, seemed to deteriorate significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic. What is often forgotten is the period before that, when you could have taken the view that business was surprisingly positive about Ms Sturgeon. After all, many company leaders were and are vehemently opposed to independence, not infrequently because of personal political or ideological views but also for some because of fears about the effects of constitutional change. Touching briefly on the pandemic, you might have thought Ms Sturgeon's approach would have been appreciated by more business leaders. There was a steadiness about it, in contrast to the toing and froing and all the drama from former prime minister Boris Johnson. Read more We should also remember Ms Sturgeon argued eloquently and convincingly during this period against the hard Brexit delivered by Mr Johnson, which continues to cost businesses the length and breadth of the UK so dearly and to hammer the country's beleaguered economy. And there were surely few if any moments, for all the hue and cry from some in the business community, when it could have been argued that Ms Sturgeon and the Scottish Government were being far too cautious with the pandemic restrictions and lockdowns. That said, a narrative nevertheless developed during that period that the Scottish Government was not on the side of business. Leaving the politicking and emotion fuelled by Ms Sturgeon's memoir to one side and taking a detached look at her time as first minister, without having read the book, it is not at all difficult to immediately identify other major positives. Ms Sturgeon was first minister when the Scottish child payment was introduced in 2021. This continues to be an extremely important source of support for low-income families in Scotland, now amounting to a weekly payment of £27.15 for every child under 16 years of age. And it is all the more crucial given the savage welfare cuts at a UK level that began when the Tories came to power in 2010. Given the Scottish Government's very limited powers in this area, the Scottish child payment is a huge deal. And it is simple arithmetic that giving money to people who have to spend all or the vast bulk of their income to live feeds through directly to aggregate demand, thereby boosting the economy. Former Conservative prime minister David Cameron and erstwhile chancellor George Osborne highlighted the importance of welfare spending to growth when they cut it savagely and hammered the UK economy. Read more Claiming we were 'all in this together', they implemented a corporation tax cuts bonanza, which failed miserably to boost investment and the economy as they claimed it would, as company bosses hung on to the windfall or distributed it to shareholders while the population at large was made to pay the price for the global financial crisis. Ms Sturgeon also, during her time as first minister, stuck steadfastly in straitened financial times and amid grim budget squeezes coming from Westminster with the SNP's commitment to free university tuition for students ordinarily resident in Scotland and doing their first degree. This is so important in ensuring the talent pool is not diminished by restricting access to higher education to those able to pay for it or willing to take on huge amounts of debt. If we are serious about having a highly skilled workforce, free university tuition is essential. It was lamentable to see Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer go back on a previous pledge on free university tuition in England. Under 'social justice', one of Sir Keir's 10 pledges in 2020 when he was standing for Labour leader, the politician promised to 'support the abolition of tuition fees and invest in lifelong learning'. However, asked about this pledge in spring 2023 on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Keir replied: 'We are likely to move on from that commitment, because we do find ourselves in a different financial situation." The trebling of tuition fees in England under the Cameron administration looked at the time like a politically driven move to narrow access to higher education, and it continues to do so. Of course, Ms Sturgeon could probably have done some things better on the business and economic front. It was unnecessary for her to pass an opinion that the proposed giant Cambo oil field off Shetland should not get the green light. The decision rested in any case with the UK Government. And the North Sea is still such an important provider of employment, directly and through the supply chain, and still makes a huge contribution to the Scottish economy. Having said that, there were far more positives than negatives from a business and economic perspective when Ms Sturgeon was first minister, even if the pluses seem very under-appreciated now. Perhaps the best overall assessment of Ms Sturgeon's time in charge is to be gleaned from examining the foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers over the period in which she was first minister. This, after all, gives a cold, objective view of the merits of Scotland as a place to do business in a global context. Companies look at many factors, including workforce skills and the stability of government and policymaking. In 2022, the last full year in which Ms Sturgeon was first minister, a then record 126 FDI projects were secured by Scotland, figures from accountancy firm EY revealed. This was up from 122 in 2021, and the 3.3% increase in the number of projects secured by Scotland in 2022 contrasted with a 6.4% decline in the UK as a whole that year. EY's Ally Scott said at the time: 'Scotland put in another powerful performance on FDI in 2022, securing record inward investment projects and UK market share.' The accountancy firm, publishing figures for 2024 this summer, highlighted the fact Scotland has been second only to London in terms of the number of FDI projects won in every year since 2015. That is mightily impressive. And those who would claim Ms Sturgeon achieved nothing, or was somehow detrimental to business and the economy, should reflect on this, once the emotion subsides a bit.
Sky News
33 minutes ago
- Sky News
Will Trump be outmanoeuvred or will he surprise us all?
History-making summits between the US and the Soviet Union are strewn through the decades, dripping with mutual suspicion but significantly shaping the course of events after the Cold War. Think Nixon-Brezhnev in Moscow in 1972 when they signed a landmark arms treaty. Think Reagan-Gorbachev in Geneva and Reykjavik and others, which ended in limiting short and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. All these summits required huge planning and detailed preparation. Donald Trump's summits are different, at least this one is. Hurriedly arranged and without much idea about what will emerge. The US president is on record as saying there is a 25% chance it won't be a success. 3:44 The circumstances are very different. This time, it is about Vladimir Putin's invasion of a sovereign country and how to bring the fighting to an end. The fear is that Trump will once again give Putin the benefit of the doubt. I was in Helsinki in 2018 when there were sharp intakes of breath as Trump literally sided with the Russian president over his own intelligence chiefs. Not privately, but in the news conference that followed. It was all about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump said: "My people came to me and they all said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin here and he says it wasn't Russia and I have to say this, I don't see any reason why it would be." It was a pretty bad look, an American president undermining the work of the country's intelligence agencies. Former Trump foreign policy advisor Fiona Hill remembers it well. She was there and was horrified. She said afterwards that it literally crossed her mind to fake some kind of medical emergency to bring the whole thing to an end. Here in Alaska, the plan is, once again, for Trump and Putin to have talks alone, other than translators. 1:43 Their negotiating teams will eventually join them but Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are desperately worried that Trump will be outmanoeuvred. The experienced, ruthless ex-KGB man is nothing if not a survivor and his aim is to buy time and continue the war.
