New Safety Fears Over the RAF's Nimrod Spy Planes

Having taken a rest over the Christmas, this blog is back with some more bad news on the Nimrod front. A new document, obtained under the freedom of information act, shows that the reassurances given about the safety of the Nimrod fleet by Defence Secretary Des Browne last month, when the board of inquiry finally reported, were just a tad too optimistic.

When Browne took over as Defence Secretary from that old Marxist rottweiller John Reid, the forces swiftly dubbed him Swiss Tony after the used car salesman in TV’s The Fast Show. I personally feel that was a bit unfair. Browne is a decent and honourable man, as he showed with his apology last month to the families of the 14 men killed when Nimrod XV230 fell apart over Afghanistan in September 2006. But it is clear he and his advisers were not aware of all the facts.