'Full truth has yet to be told' - Burnham backs public inquiry into Christmas Island nuclear tests

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has called for a public inquiry into the Christmas Island nuclear bomb tests that some people claim caused the premature death of hundreds of veteran soldiers. Mr Burnham said: ‘We are still not at the point where the full truth has been told.”

This came as he presented a Nuclear Test Veterans’ Medal to Martin Blackburn on behalf of his father Norman, who died of stomach cancer in 1985 at the age of 55. As an RAF driver, Norman was sent to Christmas Island in 1957 and watched six nuclear explosions.

Martin, 52, was subsequently born with a cataract in his left eye from which he has had only partial sight all his life. His father was convinced this condition and his own cancer was caused by the Christmas Island explosions.

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The medal was presented by Mr Burnham the local library in Martin’s home town of Golborne in Wigan alongside Leigh MP Jo Platt and councillors Susan Gambles, Yvonne Klieve and Gena Merrett. Martin told the gathering: “My dad was sent to an unknown island, along with quite a few hundred other men. They thought they were going to a great adventure.

“No-one told them where they were going or what they would be doing there, or what they would be involved in.” He said they were given orders on a particular day to muster on the beach in rows to sit on the beach and look out to sea, but when they saw the white flash, they had to turn their backs.

“And that’s what they did,” he continued. “And then they were ordered again to turn around and look at the mushroom cloud that had formed. Every veteran that you talk to - dad was not the only one - said that when that bomb was dropped and there was a