Whitehall is apparently on a sticky wicket, having suffered a serious double whammy in the span of a week. The first was the imprimatur of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on the legislative endorsement of Brexit. The second, and still more sensationally, has been the disaster that befell the Trident missile test off the Florida coast. On the face of it, the malfunction was a technological failure, with profound international implications. Strikingly, the common thread is the month of June 2016. The test of the missile happened before Theresa May assumed office as Prime Minister. What has intensified the sensation is the manner in which the failed launch was airbrushed for the past seven months… till The Sunday Times broke the news last weekend. Arguably, the compelling reason for Whitehall’s silence was that the Trident missile had misfired when Parliament approved a 40-billion pound funding for the nuclear deterrent system. The legislation has been passed with 472 votes to 117, thus securing the future of the system. The facts are simply stated. A Trident II D5 missile was launched from the submarine HMS Vengeance in June, somewhere off the coast of Florida. The test missile contained no nuclear warhead, but something went wrong when it was launched. Instead of launching on an eastward trajectory towards Africa, a malfunction caused it to head towards the United States instead. Mercifully, a catastrophe was averted, yet it may be a while before the British government can hope to recover from the grave embarrassment, indeed a technological setback that has been compounded by the cover-up.

The cocktail would seem to be purely coincidental ~ the missile failure, the attendant silence, and the deepening uncertainty of Brexit. With the news now in the public domain, the calculated silence of the government must be no less embarrassing. Reports speak of a major panic at the highest level of government and the military after the first test of the nuclear deterrent in four years ended in disastrous failure. Small wonder that ultimately Downing Street decided to cover up the failed test. The funding has come through and from the financial perspective, the system has gained a certain inbuilt security. Mrs May has refused to confirm whether she knew about the missile test before the crucial vote. “I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles,” the Prime Minister is reported to have told the BBC last Sunday. “When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident.” Much as she tries to restore confidence, unmistakable is the flutter in the 10 Downing roost. The PM needs to clear the air, and there ought to be an urgent investigation into what actually happened. Both technology and credibility are at stake.