Peter Hitchens has sparked debate by suggesting that the United Kingdom should abandon its Trident nuclear submarines in favor of developing its own version of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. Hitchens, a well-known columnist for the Mail on Sunday, expressed his views on the Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast, questioning the financial viability of maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The current fleet of Vanguard-class submarines, which houses the Trident missiles, is expected to be retired in the early 2030s. While the missiles themselves remain operational for another decade, plans are underway to transfer them to a new generation of Dreadnought submarines. These are being built at Barrow-in-Furness, with the estimated project cost reaching a hefty £31 billion.
The overall expense of renewing Trident has been a contentious issue. Estimates for the replacement program range from £20 billion to £34 billion. However, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has suggested that the true cost could soar to as much as £205 billion.
In discussing alternatives, Hitchens pointed out the substantial costs associated with both options. He noted, “An Iron Dome costs billions, but do you know how much Trident renewal costs?” His remarks invite a broader conversation about defense priorities and financial prudence as the UK weighs the future of its military capabilities.
The proposed cost of replacing Trident has been estimated at between £20billion and £34billion – although the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has put the figure as high as £205bn.
Hitchens said: ‘An Iron Dome costs billions, but do you know how much Trident renewal costs?
‘I mean, if you pile up all the money in the country to a height the size of Everest, it wouldn’t pay for Trident renewal, which in any case won’t work, and in any case, it’s pointless. To me it’s a dead loss.’
The UK retired its last air-dropped nuclear bombs in 1998, leaving Trident as the nation’s sole nuclear capability.
The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that all five of the UK’s current fleet of Astute subs were currently not deployed due to maintenance and other technical issues
Rather than renewing Trident, Britain should build its own version of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, Peter Hitchens has argued. Pictured: Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv on June 13, 2025
The Iran and Ukraine conflicts have highlighted the power of modern drone warfare and Hitchens now says Britain would be better served by an Israel-style Iron Dome anti-missile defence, supplemented by a few additional freefall bombs.
‘I mean, we have a couple of aeroplanes and a couple of bombs, which we can tell people we’ll drop on them if needs be would be fine for me,’ he said.
‘If you’ve got a really good defence in the sky, then you have transformed the position at once. Look at the problem that Russia has at the moment.’
Hitchens believes that western powers are using the conflict in Ukraine to launch a proxy war against Russia – drastically increasing the risk of Russian attacks against European capitals.
He said: ‘The Ukraine is being used, in my view, by the Western nations basically as a launch pad for using long-range missiles to destroy high-value targets, such as oil refineries, very deep in Russia, which I doubt very much whether Ukrainian intelligence even knows where they are, or could conceivably do this by itself.
‘And so you basically have a Western war being conducted against Russia without anybody declaring war or with any state of war existing.
‘Now there is a point at which it’s possible the Russians will snap, and they will, they knowing perfectly well where all this is really coming from, they might start using their undoubted missile strength in against NATO capitals, including ours.
‘Then, where are we at the moment? We’re absolutely nowhere. If we have an Iron Dome, then we are not none of these things is perfect, but they are, they’re extremely good. Then you have at least a very strong possibility that you’ll do.’
Britain should wave goodbye to its nuclear programme, Peter Hitchens has argued. Pictured: Keir Starmer (left) and freshly-departed Defence Secretary John Healey waving to submariners as they depart at HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland on April 18, 2026
Peter Hitchens (right) next to regular guest Ian Hislop (left) during his solitary appearance on topical panel show Have I Got News For You
Elsewhere in the episode Hitchens discussed his solitary appearance on topical panel show Have I Got News For You.
‘The time I went on, the makers were under some pressure because it was so virulently left wing,’ he said.
‘What you discover is it’s scripted, but you aren’t as the guest, so you have to think fast on your feet.
‘I was completely foxed, I think that’s the politic way of putting it, by one of the other panellists, a woman called Clarissa Dixon Wright, who you may remember as one of the Two Fat Ladies.
‘She basically ate the programme, she just put it on a plate, got her a knife and fork, and swallowed it whole.
‘She devoted about 25 minutes to try to perpetrate an immense defamation against a leading member of the government, which, of course, all had to be cut out.
‘I remember Ian Hislop saying to me, “Do you know anything about this? And I said, ‘No, but I know a lot about the laws of libel.”
I had three good jokes, two of which they cut, and one of which they screen, and I was never asked back.’
Hitchens credits the show with making a political star out of Boris Johnson, who went on to become Prime Minister from July 24, 2019 to September 6, 2022.
‘Now, imagine how different history could have been if it had been me rather than that “Al” Johnson character who became the star of How I Got News for You,’ Hitchens joked.
‘The whole of British history would be different. I always believed that it was Have I Got News for You which made Johnson into a major political figure and propelled him into Downing Street.’
