This is a scandal; it has absolutely tarnished the reputation of the MOD
- Invisible Enemy
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
"This is a scandal; it has absolutely tarnished the reputation of the MOD."
Tobias Ellwood (Veterans Minister 2017 - 2019) spoke to Victoria Deryshire on BBC Newsnight on 2nd of September 2026. Watch the interview below:
This interview raises major questions which need to be urgently answered by the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, who has been a supporter of our campaign for truth and justice for many years.
During the interview, Tobias Ellwood states that the MOD withheld information from him when he was Veterans Minister, which led to him misleading Parliament.
These are serious allegations, but they are not unfamiliar to the Nuclear Veterans Community; the MOD have lied to them for decades, withholding information under the veil of national security and denying access to records which may have helped thousands of veterans in their need for medical treatment.
Tobias says:
"I believe that the nuclear test veterans have been institutionally let down by the Ministry of Defence and the more you unpick this story, the more murky, the more shady, the more concerning it becomes and indeed unresolved. And it all goes back to the 50s and 60s."
"We needed to make sure that this bomb worked, worked on humans. Not only that, how would our armed forces be able to operate if we were attacked by the Soviets? So, along with France, the United States and indeed the Soviet Union, everybody put humans in harm's way, 20,000 of them or more. But the difference between what we did and the other nations is that we provided no bespoke support, no bespoke compensation, no package of assistance recognising that when you make an RAF pilot fly through the plume of a nuclear bomb, they could possibly get ill."
"United States programme is very straightforward. We ran these operations, we know you were there, you've now got leukaemia, we're going to pay for the bill. Not us; we did the opposite. We turned to our veterans and said, thank you for your service, but you need to prove that you were in harm's way; you need to prove that the leukaemia that you now have, you wouldn't have got anyway. And at the same time, ministers all the way up to my time were turning around to say, "'We have no evidence to help you with your case, nothing to see here'"
"All of that changed in 2005, when about 1,000 veterans and widowers and so forth wanted to take the MOD to court and to say, we want some competition, we want support for what's happening to us. The MOD instructed the atomic weapons establishment to find any documents that related to these tests that took place between 1952 and 67. They found 28,000 documents; they collated them so they could be compiled and easily referenced in a huge database called Merlin. This is 2006, 2007. They used that information to push back on the veteran's case, so they were able to win it. And that's exactly what happened."
"All along, that information remained embedded, either in the MOD, but actually at the AWE. So I'm standing up in Parliament in 2018, as veterans minister, asked the question to say, did AWE, the Atomic Weapons Establishment, conduct any tests? And are there any records available? And I said, no, nothing to see here. And I now realise that that was a complete lie. It was misleading the veterans; it was misleading Parliament. That was the information; that was the line I had to take. And it's not just me; it goes back to all the veterans' ministers over the last couple of decades."
This is very powerful testimony, very powerful words and words which will resonate around the walls of the Ministry of Defence.
"The question now, what should happen to this, as I say, this is all unresolved, is for an independent tribunal to determine exactly what happened. Why is it that the MOD, rather than helping veterans provide the information, closed ranks and said nothing to see here and then told ministers such as me, actually, we haven't got that information, and we're not willing to help the veterans."
We have called for a special tribunal to do exactly that. McCue Jury & Partners laid out the tribunal process, and it has been with the Prime Minister for 6 weeks, yet no action has been taken.
The interview continues:
"And I would add that today, we find that with a new government, they've done a review on this and they're going to slide the entirety of those documents over to the National Archives. But they have to be redacted. They have to be declassified. This isn't enough to help the veterans who understandably remain deeply angry. We are failing the veterans community."
We have met with the current Veterans Minister Calvin Bailey three times and each time we have told him that the community is angry and that he is failing them, but each time it has fallen on deaf ears and no action has been taken.
The interview continues:
"And of course, there are 20,000 then. There's only about 2,000 alive today. This is a deliberate effort to wait until I'm afraid these people are no longer with us."
Ken McGinley stated this in the 1980's: that they are waiting for the veterans to die. 40+ years later and the majority have passed away because of this decision by the UK Government.
Victoria Derbyshire asks, "Has there been a cover up?"
"It's totally an absolute cover up. This is big. Well, it would be for, I think, a tribunal to determine. But from where I stand, this is bigger than infected blood. It's bigger than Windrush. It's bigger than the post office, simply because not to diminish those, but simply because of the longevity, this has been going on. And the number of people that have been involved. This is a scandal. It's absolutely tarnished the reputation of the MOD."
It is the longest-running scandal in British history, yet the Prime Minister is ignoring it. Successive Prime Ministers have suddenly stopped supporting the Nuclear Veterans when they are in power; who speaks to them? Why do they suddenly ignore the community?
Victoria Deryshire asks: "Do you want to offer an apology to the nuclear test veterans for the role you have played in this cover-up?"
"Yes, I should absolutely do that. But I'd also like to see the Prime Minister explain to the nation what's happened and apologise to the nation and to the veterans directly"
It is great to see an ex-minister apologise for their role in this scandal, but what about the other ministers?
LABRATS have written to the following ex-ministers, but have received no response:
Al Carns, John Healey, Kevan Jones, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Dan Jarvis, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Michael Fallon, Philip Hammond and Liam Fox.
We will see if any of them are brave enough to admit that they were lied to as well.
We have also written to the Prime Minister demanding urgent action on this matter. Our annual reunion takes place 14-18th September. Do Calvin Bailey, Wes Streeting or Andy Burnham have the balls to stand in front of the Veterans? We are awaiting their reply to our invitation.
Our monthly meeting with Calvin Bailey is also due next week, but we still don't have a date set for it. Will he continue the meetings or stop them after this interview?
The main question remains unanswered: will Andy Burnham keep his word, or will he pass his Nuclear Test or fail as all his predecessors have? Keep track of the campaign and sign the petition by visiting
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