Nuked blood: Minister says 'state secret' documents hold no useful information

08 January 2024 , 16:47

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The minister said he knew what was in the documents, but admitted he hadn't read them

A minister has insisted 150 documents about nuclear veterans which are hidden among state secrets hold no useful information about their missing medical records - while admitting he hasn't read them.

The Mirror reported yesterday how at least two of 150 files about blood and urine testing of troops during Cold War radiation experiments had been locked away from public view under national security exemptions.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment has confirmed they all refer to blood and urine sampling during nuclear weapons tests, conducted to see if radiation had entered servicemen's bodies.

But this afternoon junior defence minister Andrew Murrison was accused of a "disgraceful response" when he was tackled on whether he'd completed a review of the files, which he promised before Christmas.

Support the nuclear veterans crowdfunder HERE.

South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck, whose constituent Jack Taylor is a survivor of the experiments, said: "Our nuclear veterans waited 70 years for recognition, and are waiting even longer for justice. During a debate last year, the minister promised 'in the days ahead' to examine 150 documents relating to blood and urine tests held by the Atomic Weapons Establishment. What did his examination find?"

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Murrison, the Tory MP for South West Wiltshire, said he had not yet read them. He told the House of Commons : "That is certainly my intention. I haven't seen them yet but I certainly intend to."

He added: "I think she will be disappointed when she sees the documents, about the contents of those documents, because I think very few of them are actually going to give you any information that's going to take us any further forward. "

As Ms Lewell-Buck laughed on the Opposition benches, he added: "But I've committed to reading them and I will certainly do so in the very near future."

His response produced a furious reaction, with Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy tweeting: "Disgraceful, dismissive response from defence minister to Emma Lewell-Buck chasing whether he's read the 150 documents about the nuclear veterans case he pledged to do before Christmas - said he hadn't but there was nothing in them in any case. How does he know?!"

Campaigner Alan Owen, whose father died after service at the tests, added: "If there's no information in those documents, why are they a state secret?"

The memo about 'gross irregularity' in the blood samples of Sqn Ldr Terry Gledhill which first revealed the scandal

Sqn Ldr Terry Gledhill, who died after many years of unexplained ill health (BNPS)

In 2018 the Ministry of Defence said it held "no information" about blood tests of nuclear servicemen. In 2022, the Mirror uncovered the first evidence that it did - a 1958 memo about a sample taken from Squadron Leader Terry Gledhill, who led 'sniff planes' through the mushroom clouds to take readings.

Since then, campaigners have uncovered dozens of Whitehall orders over more than a decade for repeated testing of army, navy and air force personnel, and the AWE has admitted it may hold up to 5,000 records, but it would cost too much to search for them.

And dozens of veterans, widows and families have been told such records exist, but they cannot see them, or that they do not exist. Some veterans have found years of their medical files, all relating to their service at the tests, are simply missing.

Last September in response to a Freedom of Information request the AWE published a list of 150 documents which it confirmed all referred to blood and urine tests. Their titles include "report on medical examinations of natives at Coober Pedy", "medical report - blood count data" and "blood counts".

Murrison committed to personally review the files in December, after Tory and Labour backbenchers united to call it "a cover-up".

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If such blood tests exist, they would provide proof of whether or not radiation could be linked to a veterans' later illnesses, and trigger mass compensation payouts. If they have been lost or destroyed, that could also produce a legal claim for negligence.

Veterans are raising £100,000 for a lawsuit to take the MoD to the High Court and force them to hand the files over. You can support their crowdfunder HERE.

Susie Boniface