In 1964, Lord Chalfont was appointed Minister for Disarmament, serving until 1970. He represented Britain at the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENCD). In the interview he focuses heavily on the evolution and current state of nuclear non-proliferation, beginning with consideration of the Atoms for Peace program. He relates the views of both the nuclear weapons states and the non-nuclear weapons states, especially countries considered to be near nuclear. He describes the British governments plan to kill the Multilateral Force (MLF) strategy for NATO. He explains the negotiating process during the ENCD, and the difference between what occurred at the negotiations and what occurred in bilateral and trilateral discussions (mainly between the U.S., the Soviet Union, and Great Britain) away from the negotiating table. He also looks at how nonproliferation treaties have succeeded and failed since the late 1960s, giving as examples the 1974 Indian nuclear test and Israels attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.
