Nine-month-old Prince William ‘used as secret weapon in government’s war with anti-nuke lefties’

FOOTAGE of baby Prince William was used to deflect attention from an anti-nukes march, new government files say.

Ministers feared the 1983 rally could prevent US missiles being stationed at Greenham Common, Berkshire.

The move to deploy US cruise missiles to Britain in 1983 after Russia targeted missiles on the West came at one of the tensest moments of the Cold War.

This then led to membership of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to soar from 3,000 to 70,000.

Foreign secretary Francis Pym had advised Mrs T of the risk demonstrators posed, fearing the protest could become so widespread that deployment of missiles would become “difficult or even impossible.”

Protesters planned a 14-mile human chain linking the US base to Aldermaston on Good Friday.

Documents from the National Archives reveal Bernard Ingham – the PM’s press secretary – had to think of ways to move attention from the peace movement.

He saw Good Friday as a “lost cause” as there was “not much sport” on.

He realised only “a North Sea blow out” or “an assassination attempt on the Pope” would knock the protest off the news schedules.

“All this is in the lap of the gods and all tragedies are devoutly not to be wished” he said.

He then pushed the idea of using snaps of nine-month-old William with his parents in Australia to downplay the scale of the demo.

“What would take the trick would be press and TV pictures, for TV release on the evening of Good Friday and/or Saturday newspapers of Prince William in Australia.”

80,000 people were said to have taken part in the CND demo.