Boris Johnson has been named as a potential witness in a criminal investigation into allegations that the British state covered up radiation testing on Cold War nuclear test veterans.
The former Prime Minister’s name appears in evidence handed to Thames Valley Police, which is assessing whether to launch a full inquiry. Detectives have been urged to question him over a secret programme in which blood samples were taken from servicemen before, during and after nuclear weapons trials, and the results withheld from their medical records.
The so-called ‘Nuked Blood Scandal’ centres on claims that successive governments engaged in a deliberate cover-up, with campaigners alleging misconduct in public office at the Ministry of Defence. If proven, the offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with typical convictions leading to three to four years in jail.
Alan Owen, founder of the campaign group LABRATS, said veterans and their families had endured decades of suffering.
“Chronic illness, cancers, birth defects, bereavement, miscarriage, trauma, suicide, much of it avoidable, and all of it more treatable had they been told what really happened,” he said. “Instead they had decades of denial. Boris was the first PM to sit down and look us in the eye. Now we ask him to do the right thing again and help the veterans get the justice they have for so long been denied.”
Johnson was first made aware of the allegations in June 2022 during a meeting in his parliamentary office, when the Daily Mirror presented him with a 1958 memo between atomic scientists describing “gross irregularity” in the blood tests of a squadron leader ordered to fly through mushroom clouds. Witnesses present at the meeting included ministers, Downing Street staff and MPs. Johnson is reported to have agreed that the withholding of such records could be a criminal offence. It is unclear what action, if any, he took afterwards.
Other high-profile figures named as potential witnesses include Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who said he would cooperate with police if asked. “Just as with infected blood, I believe senior politicians have been witnesses to a live and ongoing cover-up affecting our nuclear test veterans,” he said. “If the police decide to investigate, it is incumbent upon all of us to tell officers what we know.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Defence Secretary John Healey and Veterans Minister Al Carns are also listed. Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence and the Government Legal Department declined to confirm whether they would cooperate with an investigation.
A government spokesperson said: “These claims are false and there is no evidence to back this up. The Minister for Veterans and People has commissioned officials to look seriously into unresolved questions regarding medical records as a priority. This comprehensive work is underway and will enable us to better understand what information the department holds in relation to the medical testing of service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests.”
Evidence submitted to police also names former Conservative ministers, staff at the Atomic Weapons Establishment and lawyers who previously told courts that no such blood testing records existed. Campaigners say thousands of pages of related documents have since been discovered, with a major database due to be declassified.
A ministerial review has examined more than one million pages of documents, including orders for blood testing. However, the government has so far refused to tell Parliament what the review has found.
