BRITAIN’S independent nuclear deterrent was always a booby trap waiting for Jeremy Corbyn but even the Tories must be amazed by the way he walked into it on the first weekend of election campaigning.

Mr Corbyn is a life-long supporter of nuclear disarmament, but even his most ardent supporters admit that a unilateralist stance – as proposed by Michael Foot in Labour’s disastrous manifesto of 1983 – is deeply unpopular with voters.

Mr Corbyn is, to give him his due, a principled man.

So to square this particular circle he has adopted a contrary policy: a Corbyn-led Labour government will keep the Trident nuclear submarine fleet but there will be no circumstances in which he would use it.

Asked about this curious plan on the Andrew Marr show yesterday Mr Corbyn tied himself in knots.

Pressed on whether a commitment to Trident renewal would be in Labour’s manifesto he appeared to say the issue – which is official party policy – was "under discussion". He also appeared to drop a hint that a new Labour Government would review the decision to replace the Trident fleet whether it is in the manifesto or not.

So Mr Corbyn’s stance on Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent is as clear as mud. Unfortunately, so are the rest of his defence policies, such as building aircraft carriers but not the planes to fly from them.

How long will it be, we wonder, before someone asks the Labour leader if he still believes Nato is obsolete (surely the only policy Mr Corbyn and US President Donald Trump are ever likely to agree on)?

The Tories must be loving this. Defence has always been a Conservative trump card but Labour has never seemed so disorganised.

Rather like the Royal Navy – it is all at sea.