UK official: Britain should retain nuclear weapons

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Britain should retain an independent nuclear deterrent, Britain's finance chief, Gordon Brown, said Wednesday in a speech that stirred divisions over the country's need for a nuclear weapons program. Brown - widely expected to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister before the next British national elections in 2009 or 2010 - did not specify, however, if Britain should replace or renew its existing submarine-based missile system.