Prime Minister Theresa May repeatedly dodged questions about a ‘serious malfunction’ in Britain’s nuclear arsenal in a TV interview earlier on Sunday.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, May was asked four times if she knew about a Trident nuclear missile malfunction revealed by the Sunday Times today, prior to a major parliamentary vote on the Trident submarine system.
May did not answer the question, skirting around the issue, initially saying:
“I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles. When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident, whether or not we should have Trident missiles and an independent nuclear deterrent in the future.”
When pressed by Marr, May answered: “I think we should defend our country,” before avoiding the question two more times. May’s evasions were so comprehensive that Marr was eventually forced to concede.
“I’m not going to get an answer,” he said.
Marr's questioning centered on the reports surrounding a missile test off the coast of the USA in which an unarmed Trident missile veered off course.
"A serious malfunction in Britain's Trident nuclear weapons deterrent was covered up by Downing Street just weeks before the crucial House of Commons vote on the future of the missile system," the Sunday Times reported earlier.
"The cause of the failure remains top secret but a senior naval source has told this newspaper that the missile - which was unarmed for the test - may have veered off in the wrong direction towards America after being launched from HMS Vengeance, one of Britain's four nuclear-armed submarines," the report adds.
In the same interview, May confirmed that she will meet President Donald Trump on Friday.
Confirming the meeting the day after millions of women worldwide took to streets in support of women's rights and other social issues, a day after Trump's inauguration, May said that she will take Trump to task on anything "unacceptable" he says during their meeting.
"Whenever there is something that I find unacceptable, I won't be afraid to say that to Donald Trump," May told Marr.
"I will be there as a female Prime Minister of the UK, directly talking to him about the interests that we share," she added.
May will hold talks with Trump next week, becoming one of the first foreign leaders to meet with the US President.
She will discuss a "possible future trading agreement" between the UK and the US during the meeting with Trump, as well as "how we can build the special relationship," she said.
Plans to meet May have reportedly been pushed forward by Steve Bannon, Mr Trump's chief strategist.
You can see the full interview with the Marr show below: