Cabinets and the Bomb

Signed copies available

This volume publishes declassified Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers that reveal the private debates between prime ministers, senior ministers, civil servants, scientists and intelligence analysts as they made decisions about Britain's nuclear weapons. Documents range from the first theoretical breakthrough made by the scientists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls working at Birmingham University in 1940, to the formal December 2006 exchange of letters between Blair and Bush on the upgrade of Trident. The documents included have been photographed from copies held in The National Archives and are printed in facsimile to provide a sense of authenticity.
Peter Hennessy guides the reader with a narrative commentary that covers developments right up to the debate in Parliament in spring 2007. Together with a useful chronology of events, this volume provides a revealing insight into the decisions taken over a period of sixty years to develop and maintain Britain's position as a nuclear power.