Thanks for the answers everyone, its certainly made me pause and reconsider my initial reply, though I still think I wouldn’t order a retaliatory response I would hold on to the warheads…just in case.
Would a single strike on London be enough to even theoritically take out all command and control? Surely the UK has backup plans in case of that very scenario. Granted the immediate aftermath would probably be utter confusion but somebody or some group should be able to fairly quickly step into the leadership role.
Could a monarch order or direct a military response though? The Armed Forces swear loyalty to the Crown but real power rests with the civilian government. Though with London and said civilian government gone I wonder how far down the chain of succession the new monarch would be?
The third option still doesn’t sit well with me but I can see the logic, however if there are four ballistic missile submarines then thats four potential different centres of decision making, one commander may choose to launch while the other three hold off. (I’m aware that one sub is always in for refit but it could still ‘launch from the pier’ assuming it wasn’t destroyed in the initial attack)
I have no problem with retaliating against the enemy political and military leadership but not against the civilian population, especially in a nation like the USSR or North Korea how much say does the average citizen have over the policies and actions of their leadership?
I’m not sure what you mean by the above, could you rephrase it? This time preferably without the snark?