Question

To ask the Prime Minister, on what date he wrote to the Commander of the at-sea Trident nuclear submarine giving guidance on the use of Trident ballistic missiles after he assumed the office of Prime Minister in 2010; and on what date he sent a message superseding the message given to the at-sea Commander of Trident by Gordon Brown while he was Prime Minister.

It has been the practice of successive Governments for the incoming Prime Minister to provide written instructions to the Commanders of our nuclear armed submarines.

The letters are one of the first actions carried out by the Prime Minister on assuming office and, given the security implications, it would be wholly inappropriate to comment further on the process.