Thatcher considered chemical weapons amid USSR fears

Margaret Thatcher's government secretly discussed obtaining chemical weapons due to concerns over the arsenal held by the Soviet Union, newly released files have revealed.

Publicly, ministers were telling the public there was no plans for the UK to restore its chemical warfare capability.

But behind closed doors, Mrs Thatcher was in talks with ministers over the possibility, files released by the National Archives.

A Ministry of Defence paper from 1984 underlined the scale of the threat with an assessment that the Russians had more than 300,000 tons of nerve agents alone.

Meanwhile, a Home Office working group calculated that a Russian CW attack by just three aircraft on Gatwick Airport would leave 16,350 dead and 29,000 injured while a similar attack on Southampton dockyard would kill 33,350 and leave 42,000 injured.

However minutes from a meeting with ministers show Thatcher concluded the time was not right for such an acquisition.

"Summing up the discussion, the Prime Minister said that it might be argued that it was negligent of the Government not to acquire a CW capability. But this was not a decision which could be addressed at this stage," the minute noted.

The records, from 1985 and 1986, were among the latest batch to be released by the National Archives in west London under the 30 year rule.

They also revealed the Home Office considered plans to provide homes with chemical weapons shelters amid fears of an attack by the Soviet Union.

Other issues raised in the records include the poll tax, the BBC and hooliganism.