"Liz Truss did the right thing in the wrong way"

PM has given in to Mirror demands to honor nuclear test veterans, says Fleet Street Fox. And always armed

Unlike economics, this stuff is supposed to be easy

Four months ago, in a meeting at the Prime Minister's Parliamentary Office, I told Boris Johnson that a medal for nuclear test veterans would never be enough.

For some of the victims of Cold War radiation experiments in this country, it would be a tangible recognition of their sacrifice, and for others an insult. The only way to appease them would be a moment of national recognition, a meaningful event where these men could be recognized by the government that has denied them justice for 70 years.

Liz Truss followed yesterday, to help commemorate the Plutonium Jubilee, and a national event, attended by parliamentarians and veterans and their families, to honor their contribution to Britain's security.< /p>

And yes, it feels good to be the person who asked the question, and veterans are the people who will benefit. It's all the right thing, and as Liz Truss seems to be, it was done the wrong way.

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A statement from the Cabinet Office was released last night and has been picked up and repeated by many media outlets which, after ignoring these servicemen for decades, are now reporting how great the government is at helping them.

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But because the Mirror has been campaigning for these men for 40 years, we know more about them.

We believe there are approximately 1,500 survivors. Every winter there are fewer. More than half of the money allocated will go to an academic or cultural institution to create digital oral histories, with £200,000 available for veterans' charities.

That equates to £133 a head - less than the weekly war pension that more than 90% of these men have refused, on the grounds that the Ministry of Defense does not believe they were irradiated, even though he has evidence. this proves that they were.

Imagine your life was shortened, your family hurt, by a negligent employer who spent 70 years pretending it didn't happen.

That £133 a head probably sounds a little insulting, if you've lost a baby, your wife had a miscarriage or you've had multiple cancers and surgeries because of what they say doesn't happen. is never produced.

If you include the estimated 155,000 descendants of the original 22,000 males who have 10 times the usual rate of birth defects, it's worth just £1.28 each.