Back خطابات الملاذ الأخير Arabic অন্তিম পন্থাৰ পত্ৰসমূহ Assamese Son çarə məktubları Azerbaijani Dopisy posledního řešení Czech Letters of Last Resort German Cartas de último recurso Spanish Lettres de dernier recours French מכתבי המוצא האחרון HE Letters of last resort Italian Letters of Last Resort Dutch

Letters of last resort

A dark grey submarine slightly visible above water.
HMS Vigilant, one of four Vanguard-class submarines comprising the UK's nuclear deterrent.

The letters of last resort are four identically worded handwritten letters from the prime minister of the United Kingdom to the commanding officers of the four British ballistic missile submarines.[A] They contain orders on what action to take if an enemy nuclear strike has both destroyed the British government and has also killed or otherwise incapacitated both the prime minister and their designated "second person" of responsibility, typically a high-ranking member of the Cabinet such as the deputy prime minister or the first secretary of state. If the orders are carried out, the action taken could be the last official act of His Majesty's Government.[2]

If the letters are not used during the term of the prime minister who wrote them, they are destroyed unopened after that person leaves office, so that their content remains unknown to anyone except the issuer.[3]

  1. ^ "Brown move to cut UK nuclear subs". BBC News. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  2. ^ Taylor, Adam (13 July 2016). "Every new British prime minister pens a handwritten 'letter of last resort' outlining nuclear retaliation". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  3. ^ Rosenbaum, Ron (January 2009). "The Letter of Last Resort". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 18 March 2012. [E]very prime minister in recent years has written such a letter and ... letters that go unused (Tony Blair's for instance) are destroyed without being read.


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