Britain's nuclear test heroes have been refused a medal by a secretive Whitehall committee.
It comes despite promises from the past three Prime Ministers they supported one, and the government’s own long-term study which proved atomic veterans were 377 per cent more likely to die from radiogenic cancers than other servicemen.
A Cabinet Office source told the Mirror that the Advisory Military Sub Committee - which refuses to publish its minutes or verdict - has recommended there be no gong.
“I don’t know why they have come to that decision,” said the source. “It’s a disgrace.”
It is now up to Rishi Sunak, who said during his race to No10 that he would back a medal, to decide whether to overrule the judgement and grant the long-awaited honour.
Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said: “The Conservatives’ failure to give our nuclear test veterans a medal is a slap in the face to the thousands of personnel who made a vital contribution to the creation of our independent nuclear deterrent.
"Labour is committed to giving them the medallic recognition their unique service deserves. They took considerable risks to serve their country and many face enduring consequences.”
Around 22,000 servicemen took part in 45 nuclear explosions in Australia and the South Pacific, with another 593 "minor" radiation experiments on Aboriginal land in the Outback. It was the biggest tri-service mobilisation since D-Day. In February, government scientists reported the atomic troops were more likely to die, and to die from cancer, than other servicemen.
Their wives also report high rates of miscarriage, with birth defects in their children 10 times the norm.
In August, a campaign spokesman for Sunak told the Mirror: ""Rishi supports the campaign for nuclear veterans to be recognised for their service. We are incredibly grateful for our nuclear veterans' sacrifice which kept Britain safe during the Cold War.
"Whilst the ultimate decision on medals lies with the independent Advisory Military Sub Committee, as Prime Minister Rishi would strongly support these veterans receiving a medal and urges the committee to reconsider. He would also back an investigation into whether the tests represented a criminal offence towards these veterans."
The AMSC met in August and made its decision, but has refused to officially release it. Instead it made a recommendation turning down a gong to the main Honours and Decorations committee. It has representatives of the monarch and the Prime Minister sitting on it, who can either accept the suggestion or overrule it.
Because of political turbulence and the death of the late Queen, it is believed to have adopted “a holding pattern” and delayed an announcement on the nuclear veterans.
It has also been reported that Sunak's team are reconsidering all the pledges he made during the summer leadership campaign, in the light of expected cuts.
This week Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament he had “fed into” the medal committee process, which may be against its rules as the deliberations are meant to be free of political interference. It is understood he sent a personal letter to the chairman.
Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS, which made a fresh application for a medal after being asked to at a meeting with Boris Johnson in June, said: “It beggars belief that the government’s own scientists say test veterans are more likely to die of cancer, yet the bureaucrats still reckon there wasn’t any risk involved in standing next to a nuclear bomb, and living and sleeping in the fallout for months.
“We sent them the science, which proves nothing except radiation could explain the pattern of illness the veterans have. That they have overlooked it, or not believed it, is just as appalling as the fact they don’t have the guts to tell us to our faces.”
We revealed last week that the cover-up of test veterans' exposure to radiation began with Winston Churchill, when he deleted mention of the veterans, and how close they were to the blasts, from his first speech about it in 1952.
Subsequent tests saw warships deliberately sailed through fallout, and men ordered to walk, crawl and run through radioactive dust to see how much stayed on their uniforms. Veterans have campaigned for official recognition for decades, while battling their own illnesses and those of their children.
It is the fourth time a medal has been turned down by the AMSC, whose members are appointed by the government and which refuses to release details of its discussions. But Freedom of Information battles by the Mirror have uncovered emails feeding false information to the committee by Ministry of Defence officials, and delays in publishing its decisions while waiting for political approval.
And it comes as Labour announced that if it takes power, it will order a review of the AMSC, its membership and rules, because it has overlooked so many who had strong cases for a medal. "It can erode morale and fails to recognise the service of many who have been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country," said Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "The case is still being considered and all recommendations will be announced in the usual way. We owe a debt of gratitude to all veterans and we are working hard to ensure Britain is the best country in the world to be a veteran."
