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Sad death of Bruce Kent

Bruce Kent at Gladstonbury

Bruce Kent
22 June 1929-8 June 2022

The majority of Labour Party members are supporters of nuclear disarmament and will join Labour CND in expressing regret and sorrow at the news of the death of Bruce Kent after a short illness and less than a fortnight away from his 93rd birthday. We recall and celebrate his contribution to the peace and anti-war movements.

Bruce will be remembered as a leading figure in CND over six decades. He joined the newly formed Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1960, served as General Secretary then Chair of CND in the 1980s, and remained a national spokesperson for the Campaign thereafter. At the time of his death, Bruce was a Vice President of CND, President Emeritus of the Movement for the Abolition of War, Vice President of Pax Christi and Patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Less well-known perhaps, as a then-member of the Labour Party Bruce attended annual conference as a CLP delegate in 1989, moving the successful motion to scrap Trident. Three years later, in 1992 he stood as the Labour candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon against Conservative government minister John Paton who retained the seat.

It is a sad irony that, having been a national leader of CND during the protests at Greenham Common against the siting of US cruise missiles in Britain, one of his very last public acts was to support CND’s demonstration at Lakenheath airbase on 21 May against the return of US nuclear weapons to Britain. Unable to take part in the action, Bruce recorded a video urging support for the Lakenheath campaign.

CND General Secretary Kate Hudson described Bruce’s leadership in the 1980s as ‘the embodiment of integrity, creativity and sheer determination’, praising his ‘total commitment to his faith and principles’.

Labour CND Secretary Ruth Brown’s responded to the news of Bruce Kent’s death as many others who knew him will: ‘so sad to hear about dear Bruce, I will miss his constant presence and pep talks at events so much.’

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Labour CND annual meeting postponed

With apologies to those of you who had the date in your diaries, our AGM has been postponed. We’re busy organising for Lakenheath combined with tech problems. We will announce a new date shortly.

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Labour keeping stum on return of US nukes

Jeremy Corbyn protesting at Lakenheath in 2008. US nuclear were withdrawn later that year

As tensons mount over Ukraine, the British and US goverments continue beating their war drums. Labour CND Chair Carol Turner argues the UK govenment must not be allowed to stay silent. The prospect of a nuclear war in Europe is closer than it’s been for decades, and US nuclear weapons returning to Britain put us all on the front line.

SNP MP Kirsten Oswald and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas have both tabled parliamentary questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about US nukes returning to Lakenheath. In written replies MoD junior James Heappey MP, avoided the issue with the reply: ‘The Ministry of Defence is unable to comment on US spending decisions and capabilities, which are a matter for the US government’.

The Labour Party leadership are also maintaining a determined silence. Asked about US nukes at Lakenheath at a Britain in the World Policy Committee recently, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy made no reply despite protests from NPF members.

Based on an article Labour OutlookRead, read it in full here, and
What we know so far about US weapons at Lakenheath here

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We don’t want US nukes! Join CND at Lakenheath on 21 May

Since we learned that US nukes are coming back to Britain, CND has been busy organising a protest at RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk – RAF in name only, run by the US Air Force. Transport is bringing protestors from around the country – Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, East Midlands, London.

Visit CND for details, or London CND to book a seat from London to Lakenheath

Read about what’s on our doorstep here
Get more details about what’s in the offing here
Sign up to Labour CND’s newletter to stay in touch


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Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath

As news that US nuclear weapons are coming to Britain again begins to spread, CND has organised our first protest at RAF/USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. With the cooperation of local CND groups, the Stop UK nukes coming to Lakenheath protest takes place outside the base on Saturday 21 May, 13.00 to 15.00. CND groups across the country are already mobilising.

The United States is the only country that sites its nuclear weapons outside its own territory. The return of US nukes to Britain will increase global tensions and put the UK on the front line of a Nato/Russia war.

What’s happening at Lakenheath is part of an upgrade of US/Nato nuclear facilities across Europe. Increasing Nato’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilising and further undermines the prospects of international peace.

It’s vital that we build the biggest opposition to siting US nuclear weapons in Britain. It means spreading the word across the labour movement, and that’s  up to us all.

Labour CND will play our part in keeping you up to scratch with developments in the weeks and months ahead.

Read Are US nuclear weapons coming to Britain again? and stay in touch for more reports.
Join Labour CND’s mailing list here

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Where is the outrage over Yemen?

Labour CND committee member Rae Street is doing her single-handed best to keep the UK government’s shameful role in the war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen in full view, with regular letters to the national press. Here’s why….

Understandably, there is at the moment much in the media about the war in Ukraine where there is absolute carnage. However, what is not understandable is the complete lack of coverage of other conflicts in Somalia, Gaza, Ethiopia, but especially the  war in the Yemen. 

The Campaign Against Arms Trade estimates that over 377,000 have died  in the Yemen, either directly through the fighting or indirectly from hunger and disease. Shelter Box, the donations point for the charity Shelter, is appealing for funds for shelters which they are now managing to get through to the Yemen.

Their leaflet describes Yemeni families living in ‘nests’, that is a form of pitiful shelter built from scraps of metal and material.  I have never before heard the word ‘nest’ used in that way.

The UK government has been instrumental in bringing this about. The UK is part of the Saudi-led coalition and it is UK arms, including fighter planes from BAE Systems, which have been sold to Saudi Arabia.

Those arms are currently pounding the Yemen and murdering the people.  It is shameful that the UK government supports Saudi Arabia.  The UK should not be in the war coalition, should not be selling and shipping arms to Saudi Arabia.

Where is the outrage at the humanitarian catastrophe there?

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Are US nuclear weapons coming to Britain again?

Labour CND Chair Carol Turner’s blog on the Ukraine crisis launches with the announcement that the UK is about to become the sixth European Nato member to host American nuclear weapons. Keep tuned in for updates

The world is closer to nuclear war than we’ve been for decades, closer perhaps than ever before. Strained relations between Russia and the US over Nato’s eastward expansion touched boiling point at the end of February, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was followed by the announcement that Russian nukes were being moved to special alert.

What’s needed is cool council, encouragement to de-escalate the war and negotiate a stable end to this dangerous conflict. Instead, the belligerent rhetoric of the US, Britain and other European Nato members adds weight to the emerging view that Nato would welcome a long and protracted war in order to exhaust Russia – and consequences for the people of Ukraine be damned.

Against this looming possibility of nuclear war, a report by Hans Kristensen, Nuclear Information Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) gives cause for us to be very afraid. The UK, he says, is set to become the sixth European Nato member to host American nuclear weapons on our territory.

Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Turkey already have US nuclear weapons stationed within their borders. FAS estimates around 100 US nuclear bombs are deployed in these five countries.

US Department of Defence (DoD) documents suggest the UK has been added to the list of nuclear weapons storage locations. Kristensen believes RAF Lakenheath, 80 miles northeast of London, is likely to be that facility. In the past, Lakenheath was used to store US Air Force (USAF) nuclear gravity bombs. The facilities to do so are still intact.

This analysis by FAS comes as Lakenheath is getting ready to become the first USAF base in Europe equipped with the latest generation of nuclear-capable fighter-bomber aircraft. The first of the F-35As arrived at Lakenheath in December last year; the US is due to begin training in the next 12 months.

Kristensen points out there is no public indication from Nato yet that it intends to store nuclear bombs in Lakenheath. He speculates that its upgrade ‘could potentially be intended to increase the flexibility of the existing nuclear deployment within Europe, without increasing the number of weapons’. In other words, with a war with Russia in the offing, Lakenheath could receive nuclear weapons from existing European Nato locations to ‘better realign the overall nuclear posture in Europe’.

Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball, however, told the Guardian he saw the upgrade of the UK storage facilities as: ‘an early sign that the US and Nato are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia.’

Meanwhile, the British government is working hand in glove with Nato and the US on Ukraine. Prime Minister Johnson’s recent announcement of increased military assistance to President Zelensky, including supplying offensive weaponry, is fanning the flames of a war that could stretch across Europe and beyond.

Keeping the people of Britain safe should be foremost amongst the UK government’s concerns. Creating the conditions for siting American nuclear weapons in Britain is tantamount to painting a target on the back of everyone in the UK.

This Tory government could and should be playing a supportive role in negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict, not helping escalate it. And Labour should be demanding it do so from across the opposition benches, not trailing in Johnson’s wake.

Read Hans Kristensen full report, Lakenheath Air Base Added To Nuclear Weapons Storage Site Upgrades, 11 April 2022 here
See Julian Borger and Sam Sabbagh, UK military vaults upgraded to store new US nuclear weapons, Guardian 12 April 2022 here

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Nuclear power: the jobs myth

Join Labour CND’s Sam Mason and Daniel Blaney at this webinar organised by CND’s Trade Union Advisory Group on Monday 9 May at 19:00. Sam Mason, who represents her union on the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy initiative, will be speaking on sustainability. She joins MV Ramana , a physicist and expert on small modular nuclear reactors, who is Professor of Global and Human Security at the University of British Columbia . Daniel Blaney will chair the webinar on behalf of CND. Register here

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Labour CND’s 2022 conference

Register now for Labour CND’s not-to-be-missed annual conference. We’ll be debating the way forward for a Labour foreign policy based on peace, people and planet, with:

Richard Burgon MP // Tom Unterrainer CND Chair // Margaret Kimberly Black Alliance for Peace // Katy Clark MSP// Jess Barnard  Young Labour // Stuart Parkinson Scientists for Global Responsibility // Mish Rahman NEC // Sam Mason Labour CND’s climate specialist // with a musical interlude from Labour CND’s own Sam Browse.

Events in Ukraine bring the prospect of nuclear war closer. The AUKUS pact with Australia and the US intensifies a new Cold War with China. The British government is pledged to increase its nuclear weapons stockpile. Energy price hikes have renewed dthe role of nuclear power in the UK’s energy mix.

Now more than ever Labour needs a foreign policy based on peace and climate justice.