6 days ago
Allegra Stratton: Starmer's Need For Speed
If you've never been to the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, just south of the Lake District, then it's worth a trip. I have been a fair bit both as a day tripper and also as a TV reporter, when I always found the local 'Spoons stuffed with submariners having a pint before heading off on what they call their 'Silent Service' through the planet's seas.
But the ultimate spectacle is to walk over the bridge in Barrow and find yourself staring right at one of Britain's nuclear subs: half submerged like a resting black electric eel. The one in the dock in March, when the prime minister became the first Labour leader to visit in 30 years, was HMS Agamemnon, or 'awesome Aggie' — part of the new Astute-class of subs that will protect the UK's nuclear deterrent and the rest out at sea. When I've visited, the skills and pride of the technicians are clear to see, as they thrum around the boats.
