A major public row has broken out in Labour's top team after Jeremy Corbyn said he would never push the nuclear button if he became prime minister.
The new Labour leader, who has long campaigned to scrap Britain's nuclear deterrent Trident, said he wouldn't use it even if it remained in place. His blunt comments on Wednesday morning have alarmed some of his own MPs, including shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle.
She told the BBC: "I don't think that, a potential prime minister answering a question like that in the way in which he did, was helpful. I think it undermines to some degree our attempts to try and get a policy process going. As far as I'm concerned we start from the policy we have."
Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer also raised concerns about Corbyn's stance. He told BBC2's Daily Politics: "There's no point having a nuclear deterrent unless you're prepared in extreme circumstances to use it. We've got to get to a point where the Labour party decides what policy it wants in relation to the nuclear deterrent. I agree ... that if you commit yourself to not using it, you're pre-empting the debate."
Labour MP John Woodcock added: "If that were the policy of a future prime minister it would make the grotesque horror of a nuclear holocaust more likely, not less."
Their remarks underlined the deep divide on defence policy within the party. Eagle's comments were immediately blasted by Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, who supported Corbyn's leadership bid.
Surprised that Maria Eagle criticises JC for making his position clear on Trident nuclear weapon system
Corbyn, a longtime anti-war campaigner, told the Labour party conference in Brighton on Tuesday that his massive victory in the leadership election has given him a "mandate" to scrap Trident.
He wants to persuade his MPs to back him in a House of Commons vote expected in the coming months. But he appeared to acknowledge on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that even if they defied him, he would never push the nuclear button anyway.
Asked whether he would ever use Trident, Corbyn replied: "Five declared nuclear weapon states in the world, there are three others that have nuclear weapons. That is eight countries out of 192."
Pressed again on whether he would ever use it, he said: "No. A-hundred-and-eighty-seven countries don't feel there's a need to have a nuclear weapon to protect their security – why should those five need them themselves? We're not in the era of the Cold War any more, it finished a long time ago."
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon seized on his comments: "The Labour leader is effectively saying he would lower Britain's defences. Deterrents don't work if you're not prepared to use them.
"Having nuclear weapons and our enemies knowing that we're prepared to use them in the most extreme circumstances of self-defence is vital to keeping our country safe."
A much-anticipated debate on Labour's position on Trident was expected at the conference in Brighton earlier this week – but to the surprise of Corbyn's top team, the motion was not chosen by activists. Some unions are strongly opposed to the abolition of Trident, warning of big job losses, while many members are concerned about Britain's security.
Despite the lack of debate, Corbyn made his position loud and clear in his leader's speech, telling the packed hall: "There is one thing I want to make my own position on absolutely clear, and I believe I have a mandate from my election on it. I don't believe that £100 billion spent on a new generation of nuclear weapons taking up a quarter of our defence budget is the right way forward."
UKIP defence spokesman Mike Hookem also pounced on Corbyn's latest remarks, claiming that he was ignoring the threat from states such as North Korea and Iran as well as from terrorist groups.
He said: "The world has never been so dangerous and Jeremy Corbyn needs to wake up and realise the facts rather than living in some 1980s ultra-left-wing, utopian dream world."