By SMF, NARA, Date 3/27/00
Secret
Dear Ron,
I am most grateful to you for your personal message to me of 1 October giving advance notification of the details of the modernisation programme for your strategic forces.
These plans will greatly strengthen deterrence at the strategic level, and the United Kingdom Government welcomes the improvement which this will bring in the deterrent posture of the NATO Alliance as a whole against the background of the increasing Soviet threat. I also welcome this renewed demonstration of your Administration’s resolve to strengthen your defence capabilities as well as the incentive which the programme will offer to the Russians to engage seriously in arms control negotiations: the benefits will be felt throughout the Alliance.
Yours ever,
Margaret Thatcher