CONSERVATIVE MP Crispin Blunt shamed Labour and Tory MPs who trooped together into the voting lobbies on Tuesday night to back Trident nuclear weapons.

Reigate MP Mr Blunt not only spoke out against Trident but joined 19 Labour rebels who voted against renewal of the submarine-based system.

A Commons motion against renewal of Trident was crushed by 364 votes to 35 after Tory and Labour front benches joined forces to back the weapons of mass destruction. A number of Labour MPs abstained.

The motion was moved by the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Mr Blunt, the only Tory supporting the motion, said he was wearing the regimental tie of the Light Dragoons.

He told MPs that when he worked as a special adviser at the Ministry of Defence, he found it impossible to find a scenario in which Britain would decide to use nuclear weapons.

Trident renewal would cost about £100 billion.

“As a nation, given the other potential demands on our defence budget, we can no longer justify the expense,” he added.

Britain would be much better equipped to defend its interests if it is a wealthy, successful trading nation which “looks out to the entire world.”

Intervening in the debate, North Ayrshire Labour MP Katy Clark protested that £100 billion was “an absolutely obscene amount” to spend on Trident when the gap between rich and poor was ever widening.

Labour MPs voting against Trident renewal were: 

Diane Abbott, Ronnie Campbell, Katy Clark, Michael Connarty, Jeremy Corbyn, Ian Davidson, Paul Flynn, Roger Godsiff, Kelvin Hopkins, David Lammy, Mark Lazarowicz, John McDonnell, Grahame Morris, Fiona O’Donnell, Sandra Osborne, Dennis Skinner, Andrew Smith, Graham Stringer and Joan Walley.