Letter of Last Resort, what would yours say?

[Kendodd]

The Letter of Last Resort are letters from the PM to the commanding officers of the four nuclear submarines. They contain orders on what action to take if an enemy nuclear strike has both destroyed the UK government. Each PM writes one as soon as they come into office and they are destroyed unopened when they leave office.

What do you think they say?
What would yours say?

Great thread. I’m a vindictive cow so I’d probably say “retaliate and then go to Australia if you can”.

Lets say it was Russia and their bombs killed/injured half the UK population and destroyed most of our infrastructure. I would say do not strike back, what's the point, it'll just kill millions of innocent people for no benefit. Take your submarines to Canada or Australia (or somewhere like that) and surrender to them.

As for what most PMs letters might say, I think most of them would say strike back.

Ooh interesting question. I'd say don't retaliate, and I bet that every PM has said the same. There would be no point by the time the submariners were reading the letter - if the UK's already been destroyed, what's the use of killing thousands & thousands more people in Russia or wherever?

As for what most PMs letters might say, I think most of them would say strike back

Interesting, I think the opposite. I think quite a few might have used a nuclear weapon early in a conflict if they thought it would prevent another world war or similar, but I can't see any, even the most bellicose, wanting their final posthumous act to be the destruction of tens of thousands of civilians to no purpose. .

I think all this talk of war is talk of mad men. We should not let our leaders prepare us for war because there's is no circumstance where it will be necessary.

If Russia wants to take back it's old territory, let them do it because it will fail in the long term....all empires fall.

I'm not prepared to go to war because it will achieve nothing only death. Your world ends the moment you are dead.

Our soldiers and sailors should be prepared to stand down in the face of such orders to save us from global disaster

I think that everybody should be made to watch the documentary, The Fog Of War.

It's seems that power-hungry men never learn from past mistakes.

I would hope that most PM letters would say something like "You are wise, well trained and capable. Please do what you think is most appropriate for the benefit of the UK and for humanity as a whole. That may be war, but it may just as likely be peace. Death for death's sake is pointless."