Personal file containing material concerning the work of the Joint Defence and Disarmament Commission and the public debate within the SDP/Liberal Alliance over the Commission's recommendations for the replacement of Polaris nuclear weapon system in Britain, including:

• Correspondence with chairman of the commission John Edmonds and others /memoranda/press releases concerning the establishment of the Commission and appointment of members to the Commission, Jun 1984-Jul 1985
• Correspondence of David Owen with various correspondents discussing/debating the Commission's report and David Owen's response to it, including copy David Owen's letter to David Steel objecting to speech by Malcolm Bruce on Liberal defence policy, 14 May [1986]; correspondence with Shirley Williams20 May 1986, 6-9 Jun 1986; correspondence with Paddy Ashdown including drafts of statement and article on the Commission's findings/Alliance defence policy, Jun-Aug 1986; correspondence with William Rodgers debating the final report, 4-16 Jun 1986 etc
• Transcripts of speeches by David Owen setting out SDP defence policy, including speech to the Council for Social Democracy meeting, Southport, 17 May 1986; speech on `Europe's Nuclear Deterrence Strategy' made to a joint meeting of the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft and German Society of Foreign Policy, Bonn, 5 Jun 1986
• Standard letters//paragrpahs for letters explaining David Owen's position in the defence debate
• Press releases and copied news articles concerning the Commission's report and the split within the Alliance concerning it
• Note of SDP Parliamentary Advisory Committee Meeting discussing the issue, 11 Jun 1986
• Letters from David Owen to Commission members thanking them for their work and discussing the report, with replies, 9-20 Jun 1986
• File of copied news cuttings: `Eastbourne 86. DO speech and Defence Debate' - coverage of the defence debate at the Liberal Party conference, Eastbourne, Sep 1986
• Copy of letter from David Steel to Paddy Ashdown objecting to Paddy Ashdown's media briefing on Liberal policy on disarmament, Oct 1986
• Copy conference papers for conference on NATO nuclear guidelines, Ditchley Park, held 26-27 Feb 1983, with extensive MS annotations by David Owen
• Various other memoranda/reference material relating to SDP and Liberal Party nuclear weapons policy