Jeremy Corbyn has thrown down the gauntlet to his Shadow Cabinet and Labour MPs after declared he will not back David Cameron’s call to launch airstrikes in Syria.
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Cameron said if Britain didn’t act after IS-claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, friendly nations might well ask, “if not now, when?”
In a letter to MPs, sent after a shadow cabinet meeting, he added: “I do not believe that the Prime Minister today made a convincing case that extending United Kingdom bombing to Syria would meet that crucial test. If they had their way, it would be London”, said Mr Cameron.
He wrote Thursday to Labour legislators to say he wouldn’t back airstrikes because Cameron had not set out “a coherent strategy” to defeat IS.
Mr. Cameron suffered a stinging parliamentary defeat two years ago when he sought approval for military intervention in Syria after it emerged that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons to attack civilians.
But he warned of “unintended consequences” if Britain got involved in military action in Syria in the same way it had in Iraq and Afghanistan.
David Cameron: It is worth listening to our closest allies, the Americans and the French, who want us to take part… because of the capabilities we bring… yes, we would make a military difference.
He was making an attempt to persuade reluctant lawmakers in that there was a robust case for military action in Syria.
Cameron wants to hold a vote in Parliament, but said he would only do so if “there is a clear majority for action, because we will not hand a publicity coup to ISIL” – another acronym for the militant group.
Related: Islamic State, ISIL, Daesh or IS – what should we call the Paris bombers, and what is their terror group? .
Shadow global development secretary Diane Abbott insisted the shadow cabinet was not entitled to vote down the leader and said she was confident they would come to the “right decision”.
A Times/YouGov opinion poll last week found that 58 percent of people would approve of Britain joining air strikes in Syria, compared to 22 percent against.
Many Britons are wary of getting drawn in to another Middle Eastern conflict after messy, bloody wars in Iraq and Libya.
The prime minister’s campaign received a boost when Crispin Blunt, chairman of the influential Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said he would now support air strikes, having previously opposed them.
But Mr Cameron has not yet announced a date for a House of Commons vote on the airstrikes proposal.
Mr Cameron, who still faces a battle to win a majority of MPs’ support at a vote, also said there would be no British “boots on the ground” and that only the RAF has very specialised, world-leading equipment allies need to counter the threat.
“I think the mood in parliament has changed”, he said, predicting that the vote will pass since “a significant number of MPs” had changed their minds.
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The SNP’s Angus Robertson said the Prime Minister had failed to answer the key questions on ground troops and reconstruction costs and told him his party would not back airstrikes.
