ABSTRACT
Following Margaret Thatcher’s entry into office in May 1979, her government oversaw the gradual shift from a defensive approach of secrecy to an offensive approach of submissive persuasion. This shift occurred over the first eighteen months of Thatcher’s premiership. This saw her government, and particularly her first defence secretary, Francis Pym, undertake efforts to make the case for controversial nuclear decisions to the public. This more open approach emerged slowly around the NATO “dual-track” announcement, which would eventually see the deployment of new Theatre Nuclear Forces in Europe, including Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in Britain. External pressure led the government to lay out its nuclear policy for the first time before Parliament in January 1980, disclosing Chevaline and talking about the Polaris successor. The eventual announcement of the Trident purchase was accompanied by significant public relations efforts. These developments, but particularly the “dual-track” announcement, laid the groundwork for an explosion of public interest in nuclear issues in spring 1980. The chapter argues this shift in approach was driven by a number of factors: the politics of the Thatcher government; the need to take nuclear decisions; the Conservatives’ policy openly in favour of nuclear deterrence and party unity.
