THE BRITISH Labour Party leader, Mr Tony Blair, said yesterday he was prepared to press the button unleashing the country's nuclear deterrent if necessary. But he described the responsibility of having to exercise such a decision as "awesome".
"These are enormously difficult decisions but yes, you have to envisage circumstances in which your nuclear deterrent can be used," Mr Blair said at a news conference to launch Labour's foreign policy.
He said his party would retain the Trident nuclear missile submarine but added Britain would work for an internationally verifiable Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, with the eventual aim of a nuclear weapons free world.