§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Polaris nuclear missiles carried by submarine and deployed in the Atlantic during the Falklands war were targeted on Argentina and whether they were carrying thermonuclear warheads.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Lord Trefgarne)As the Prime Minister has stated (Vol. 65, col. 468–470) there was no change in the standard deployment patterns of our Polaris submarines during the Falklands conflict. Moreover, the late Lord Trenchard gave the noble Lord a categorical assurance at the time that nuclear weapons would not be used in the Falklands conflict (Vol. 429, col. 778).