Francois Hollande has called on MPs to back military intervention in Syria after the Paris attacks.
Advertisement
On Thursday, the Prime Minister pressed his “compelling” case in the Commons, saying the strikes would make Britain safer.
“Vote on those arguments and we can do the right thing”.
Asked about a post-war Syria, Mr Cameron said the right approach, one that included all the necessary elements, should be taken. He has not been able to explain how British airstrikes would alter the situation, particularly given the fact that Isis has continued to grow during the past 13 months of U.S. led airstrikes.
“However, there is also an issue which goes beyond us, because if we have been attacked in France, it’s the whole of Europe which has been attacked and it’s all the countries which want to preserve liberty which have in fact been attacked”.
“No, he wasn’t my choice, but I respect the vast majority of my Labour Party colleagues who made a principled decision – and picked a very decent man”. “They have got millions of troops”. “I am respectful of differences in opinion within our party”, he said. “The person who frankly seems to be letting himself down is Ken Livingstone with [those] remarks”.
Mr Benn also said that he meant to carry on in the shadow cabinet and suggested that a free vote may be the only way out of the impasse. Fallon has been briefing Labour MPs over the weekend to win their support in a Commons vote.
Cameron confirmed Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond would tell opposition MPs about a “comprehensive” strategy for hitting IS and ending the Syrian civil war and with it the rule of president Bashar al-Assad.
When Mr Marr said he expected the Labour leader’s heart was “on the left”, Mr Corbyn replied: “It’s a socialist heart as well”.
Corbyn said he would not describe himself as a pacifist but military action should only be used as an absolute last resort.
The chances of Labour MPs being granted a free vote seemed to increase when Mr Corbyn’s closest ally, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, insisted politicians had to follow their consciences.
Mr Corbyn’s robust stance puts him on collision course with his own frontbench team, many of who are thought to back airstrikes. You are sending people out possibly to die.
“There shouldn’t be any party discipline on issues like this”.
He said: “This isn’t about the internal politics of the Labour Party”.
Former business secretary Chuka Umunna has told Sky News he would defy the whip if instructed to oppose military action.
In London, actor Mark Rylance and musician Brian Eno will also be handing a letter in to Downing Street urging Cameron not to join the global air strikes.
Advertisement
It is said to be especially good at targeting tanks and other heavy weaponry and uses a “highly focused” explosive warhead to reduce shrapnel.
