Lies, Damn Lies and Labour lies that kill

I have noted on a few occasions the problems with the RAF Nimrod and the problems it has experienced culminating in the crash of Nmrod XV230 that cost the lives of 14 servicemen over Afghanistan. We have litany of issues that this crash has brought to our notice but the most applaing is that basically this type of Nimrod has not been airworthy since it was built and in particular changes to allow air refueling caused the Nimrod to be an explosion waiting to happen.

Now The Independent tells us that Bob Ainsworth lied about a report on the Nimrod. Bereaved relatives were not told of 26 faults which inspection found could threaten aircraft's safety

A report into the safety of Britain's ageing fleet of Nimrod spy planes, which a defence minister claimed did not reveal "any significant airworthiness issues", exposed almost 1,500 faults – 26 of which threatened the aircraft's safety.

Eight of the faults posed risks of fire and explosion, the cause of the catastrophic loss in September 2006 of a Nimrod in Afghanistan. Fourteen servicemen died after leaking fuel was ignited by a hot air pipe, causing the aircraft to explode...

... It found that the initial general condition survey – a visual inspection of the plane – revealed 1,495 "observations", 26 of which had "potential airworthiness implications".

These included chafed wiring, damage to an oil pipe and chafed fuel pipes, all of which could have led to a "fire and explosion". A further nine observations were categorised as "serious engineering issues requiring immediate action".

The MoD ordered the rapid rectification of all the problems on the ageing Nimrod fleet. However, 12 of the 18-strong fleet remain grounded while aircrews fix the problem that resulted in the explosion in Afghanistan.

So whilst these repairs were going on Bob Ainsworth the Defence Minister wrote to families of those servicemen killed, stating that the

"report by QinetiQ on the Nimrod has been received and it does not identify any significant airworthiness issues".

This was an utter and complete fabrication. The letter from Mr Ainsworth also made no mention of the fact that the MoD had ordered a thorough strip-down of the Nimrod to see whether there were any deeper, less visible problems.

This is just yet further news of the deep and dirty corruption that stains this government. Bob Ainsworth should resign immediatlely and Gordon will need to issue yet another apology for his stinking corrupt Government.

Defence minister glossed over Nimrod safety fears - Home News, UK - The Independent