Editing Protect and Survive (section)

====Publication of the pamphlet====
''Protect and Survive'' was formally published in May 1980, but had come to the public's attention before that via a series of articles in ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper in January 1980.<ref name=times1>Evans, P. (1980) 'Civil defence-1: Government to give greater priority to protect millions of people' ''The Times'', 16 Jan, p. 4</ref> This wave of interest had been preceded by numerous letters to ''The Times'' in December 1979<ref name=time2>Thompson, K, Nonhebel, G. (1979) 'Reviving Civil Defence (Letters to the Editor)' The Times, 29 Nov, p. 17</ref><ref name=times3>Chambers, D. (1979) 'Reviving Civil Defence (Letters to the Editor)' ''The Times'', 1 Dec, p. 13</ref> questioning what Civil Defence arrangements were in place in the UK.

This was then followed by a ''Times'' leader on 19 January 1980 which noted that: "In Britain, a Home Office booklet "Protect and Survive" remains unavailable."<ref name=times4>The Times, (1980), A Lethal Failure of Duty, 18 Jan, p. 13</ref>  Following this unexpected publicity for ''Protect and Survive'', The Minister of State at the Home Office, [[Leon Brittan]], responding on the subject in the House of Commons on 20 February 1980 said that:<ref name=times5>''The Times'', (1980), Revision of pamphlet on UK civil defence, 22 Feb, p. 10</ref>

{{blockquote|...attention has been focused on the decision of the Home Office not to publish, in advance of an imminent attack, the pamphlet entitled "Protect and Survive". It is not a secret pamphlet, and there is no mystery about it. It has been available to all local authorities and chief police and fire officers and to those who have attended courses at the Home Defence College at Easingwold. It has been shown to interested members of parliament and to journalists. It has not been published, for the simple reason that it was produced for distribution at a time of grave international crisis when war seemed imminent, and it was calculated that it would have the greatest impact if distributed then.<ref>HC Deb 20 February 1980 vol 979 cc628</ref>}}

The Minister then went on to say the Home Office had received over two hundred letters from the public on civil defence. Following the press and parliamentary focus on ''Protect and Survive'', as well as an episode of the BBC's ''Newsnight'' programme which focused on the campaign, the government chose to publish the pamphlet in May 1980.<ref name="Young2019" />