British Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposals presented to parliament to modernize Britain's nuclear deterrent were met with skepticism in the country's press yesterday, which asked: Why now?
Both left and right-wing newspapers were united in questioning the seemingly rushed process of decision-making after the government said lawmakers would vote early next year on a decision that will affect Britons for a generation.
The right-of-center Daily Mail, no fan of the government, while stating its support for Britain retaining an independent nuclear deterrent asked in its editorial: "Why is the nation being bulldozed into a decision without a proper debate?"
The Daily Telegraph -- another right-of-center supporter of retaining the nuclear weapons program -- similarly asked: "Why the rush?"
"The more sceptical will suspect that the entire timetable has been dictated by Mr Blair's endless quest for a political legacy as he prepares to hand over power," it read.
The left-wing Daily Mirror, traditionally a government-backing tabloid, said in its editorial: "Tony Blair is a man in a hurry to persuade Britons to spend tens of billions of pounds on an expensive new generation of nuclear weapons."
The Guardian, another supporter of the governing Labor Party, was also unimpressed by Monday's announcement: "The question the government must answer in the debate it has promised before parliament votes next March is not just `why', but `why now?'"
Also chiming in was the Financial Times, which similarly noted in the headline of its editorial that there were "unanswered questions surrounding Trident."
"What exactly ... is it for? ... What is Britain's deterrent meant to deter?" it read.
"Put simply: do we need Trident as `the ultimate insurance' as Mr Blair says? Or are we clinging to the ultimate vestige of the great power delusions to which this prime minister seems especially prone?" it read.
The Independent, a left-of-center daily, lamented: "There was a chance here for Britain to set a new direction in the international debate: one that was about restraint rather than escalation."
"That opportunity has been lost," it said.
The only two newspapers that offered support for Blair's proposals were the Times and the Sun.
The Sun, Britain's best-read daily, noted in its "The Sun Says" editorial column that it "was good to see Tony Blair and [Conservative Party leader] David Cameron united yesterday in support of a second generation of Trident nukes."
"In these troubled and uncertain times, it is vital we maintain our guard and stand together against all possible threats," it said.
The Times, meanwhile, noted: "There is indeed little chance now or in the next few years that any dictator would be able to launch a nuclear strike on Britain."
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