The independent nuclear deterrent is a carefully constructed political myth designed to provide false comfort to the British people. It is supposed to protect the UK in a re-run of 1940, when Britain stood alone. But Britain would only stand alone today if it were at odds with the US and in that event, Washington would have every interest and ability to remove the nuclear weapons support on which Britain depends. Trident and any similar successor fails the 1940 test.
In 1962 the US Defence Secretary Robert McNamara revealed that the British force "did not operate independently" to Harold Macmillan's embarrassment. When Macmillan later accepted President John Kennedy's offer of the Polaris missile submarine, his Permanent Secretary, Sir Robert Scott, recorded that the decision has "put us in America's pocket for a decade" . Sir John Slessor, the commander of the V bomber force, wrote privately that the deal had been done to sustain the "myth" of an independent force. President Charles De Gaulle of France turned down the same offer and built an independent force de frappe. De Gaulle then vetoed UK membership of the Common Market on the grounds that the Polaris deal had made Britain an American vassal.
