28 November 2023 , 16:47
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A Tory grandee has accused the government of covering up blood tests from nuclear veterans, as a minister finally promised to search the records himself.
It comes after the Mirror's discovery of 150 documents at the Atomic Weapons Establishment about blood and urine testing during Cold War experiments which the MoD had previously denied existed.
Sir John Hayes said the scandal of hidden nuked blood records had left veterans in their 80s "dealing with, what I have to say and I hesitate to use this word, but what looks to me like a cover-up".
He told a Parliamentary debate: "No party in this House has not been involved in that. There have been governments come and go since the nuclear tests, and one of the few things that has united them wholly is their unwillingness to play straight by the nuclear test veterans."
He added: "The question remains: why, and who, and when, which ministers still in this House or the upper house, refused to provide that information, and on what basis."
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Junior defence minister Andrew Murrison said he had told officials to review the unearthed documents and explain what they contained and whether they should stay secret.
He said he would also review them himself but insisted: "There is no cover-up... absent and incomplete records should not be taken as evidence of conspiracy."
The files have titles such as "report on medical examinations of natives" and "blood testing at Maralinga". Murrison said he did not see why many of them should not be published. He added: "It seems to me reasonable, given the level of public interest, to ask why these documents so tantalisingly put before us are not in the public domain in their entirety... If it’s merely sheets and sheets and sheets of dosimetry and urine and blood test results, I cannot see why it should not be."
The memo about 'gross irregularity' in the blood samples of Sqn Ldr Terry Gledhill which first revealed the scandal
Sqn Ldr Gledhill died after many years of unexplained ill health, but his RAF health records have been refused to his family (BNPS)The results of such testing would be incontrovertible proof of whether radiation entered the veterans' bodies and caused long-term damage, potentially leading to mass compensation long denied to survivors and widows. Families have raised £50,000 with a crowdfunder for their own legal action to force the documents into the light.
Labour's Rebecca Long-Bailey said there was proof blood tests were ordered, taken, analysed and stored, with instructions from Whitehall to troops on the ground throughout the 15 year weapons programme.
She said: "I find it hard to believe that one of the greatest military services in the world has not got a system to access those archived documents. If they don't exist... it's up to the government to be open and honest and explain what happened to those documents, on whose instruction they were destroyed, and why."
Shadow Work and Pensions Minister Chris Evans said veterans not being able to access their full records "was a moral issue". He added: "It has placed them in an impossible situation. These are crucial documents that hold the key to understanding and addressing potential health issues. This denial leaves them stranded, unable to make informed decisions about health of their families, or access appropriate medical care."
Nuclear veterans - many of whom marched in previous years without any honour for their service at the nuclear tests - wore their medal for the first time this year, but many are still denied their own health records (Susie Boniface)Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy said it was "a mark of shame" that veterans were having to take legal action to get the truth.
She said: "We shouldn’t be waiting for people to make requests for their own medical information. There should be no question about whether data can be released. We should be humbled and horrified enough to get that information to them, and proactively investigating the healthcare concerns they and their families may have."
She spoke about former constituent George Swain, 91, who as chef on HMS Warrior was ordered onto deck to watch Britain's first hydrogen bomb, codenamed Grapple X, at Christmas Island in 1957. He later suffered skin cancer and went blind in one eye, while one daughter suffered miscarriages and another had a baby who died at birth. His grandchildren also have gynaecological and spinal issues.
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She said: "The family will never be sure unless someone investigates whether what happened to them is a result of what happened to George."
The Mirror broke the nuked blood scandal last year when we reported on a memo between nuclear scientists discussing the "gross irregularity" of blood tests conducted on Squadron Leader Terry Gledhill, who led planes into the mushroom clouds of repeated explosions to take samples.
Murrison said he'd been told by officials that the one identifiable test the Mirror had found was the only one that existed. "I don't know why that is, it could have been a mistake, I just simply don't know. That's why I've asked to see those 150 files myself," he said. "The AWE has not been able to tell me specifically why there should be that one case, out of all the data they hold, that is personally identifiable."
Shadow Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard also praised the Mirror's campaigning journalism, and said without it "this issue would not be as loud or as prominent as it would be today".