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"In the most extreme circumstances we have made it very clear that you can't rule out the use of nuclear weapons as a first strike," said Sir Michael. The Prime

Minister's official spokesman said later there was "no reason to disagree" with Sir Michael's comment. Conservative former minister Alistair Burt said: "You have

circumstances where the PM alone has to make decisions. "You cannot go into an election and have a situation where the party policy is one thing and the would-be Prime Minister's

stated views are another in circumstances such as this "The only deterrent a country has is that those who might threaten a country know exactly where its leadership is in times of

crisis. We cannot know that so long as Jeremy Corbyn leads the Labour Party and says what he says." Labour is officially committed to renewing the four submarines which carry

Britain's Trident missiles but Mr Corbyn said that as PM he would order a review of "all aspects" of defence policy. Labour campaign chairman Andrew Gwynne insisted: "We

are committed to renewing the Trident system." Shadow Defence Secretary Ms Griffith said the commitment "absolutely will be in the manifesto, because it's firmly our policy,

and that's been reaffirmed time after time" - and she had made that point to Mr Corbyn. Put to her that the leader - who as PM would make the decision on nuclear strikes -

evidently did not agree, she told BBC Two's Daily Politics: "We all know that Jeremy has had had his own personal view on a number of issues but the really important point here is

that this is something we have been committed to for a very long time... We are totally committed to the deterrent." The party must also be clear that it would use the deterrent if

necessary, because that willingness was the best way to keep world peace, she said, adding: "I'm certainly prepared to use it ... absolutely." Suggesting party policy was more

important than the leader's, Ms Griffith said: "People are going to be voting for a political party... This is not a presidential election, this is an election between political

parties."