May defies gathering storm over Syria missiles
THERESA May will today tell MPs striking Syria was “the right thing to do” to protect Britain from the threat of more chemical attacks.
In the face of growing political and public scepticism about her decision to back US-led air attacks on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Prime Minister is to insist it is in the country’s “national interest” to prevent the spread of chemical warfare.
She will also draw a direct link between the gassing of civilians in the Syrian town of Douma with the nerve agent attack in Salisbury blamed on Russian agents.
She faces the Commons this afternoon for the first time since three suspected chemical weapons facilities were hit by 105 US, British and French missiles on Saturday.
“It is in our national interest to prevent the further use of chemical weapons in Syria – and to uphold and defend the global consensus that these weapons should not be used,” she will say.
“For we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere,” pointing to the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade toxin.
Tory MPs were last night put on a “three-line whip” alert for an emergency debate on the airstrikes tomorrow.
The Government is expected to apply to Speaker John Bercow to today allow a full Commons debate to defuse criticism that the Prime Minister acted without parliamentary consent.
Mrs May is braced for intense questioning by MPs today, with many critical of her decision to order four RAF Tornado GR4 jets into combat without a vote.
And in the first public poll carried out following the raids Survation found 54 per cent of respondents thought the Prime Minister was wrong to order our forces into action without the backing of Parliament. Only 30 per cent said she was right.
Mrs May should not order any further strikes without the support of MPs, said 61 per cent, with only 20 per cent agreeing.
The poll followed a Daily Express phone survey last week showing 78 per cent of callers were opposed to Britain taking part in airstrikes to punish Assad. Just 22 per cent supported UK involvement.
In her statement to MPs today, the Prime Minister will insist the action was in Britain’s interests as well as seeking to alleviate further humanitarian suffering in Syria.
“We have done it because we believed it was the right thing to do. And we are not alone,” she is expected to say.
“Over the weekend I have spoken to world leaders – including Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Gentiloni, Prime Minister Trudeau, Prime Minister Turnbull and European Council President Donald Tusk. All have expressed their support for the actions that Britain, France and America have taken.”
Mrs May will tell MPs: “United Nations Security Council-mandated inspectors have investigated previous attacks and on four occasions decided that the regime was indeed responsible.
“We are confident in our own assessment that the Syrian regime was highly likely responsible for this attack and that its persistent pattern of behaviour meant that it was highly likely to continue using chemical weapons.
“Furthermore, there were clearly attempts to block any proper investigation, as we saw with the Russian veto at the UN earlier in the week.”
Ministers were last night resisting pressure for a retrospective Commons vote on the airstrikes, but braced for Labour MPs to table a motion on the issue. A senior Tory source insisted Mrs May did not see a need for a vote to be held.
Jeremy Corbyn yesterday called for a new War Powers Act to stop governments launching military action in most circumstances without the backing of MPs.
“If we could get to a process in the UN where you get to a ceasefire, you get to a political solution, you then may well get to a situation where there could be a UN force established to enforce that ceasefire.”
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the attacks had been proportionate. “Finally the world has said enough is enough.” But he said there were no plans for Britain to join in further military action in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday claimed any further Western missile strikes on Syria would lead to “chaos” in international relations.
But last night Nicky Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, said America was “locked and loaded” and preparing new sanctions on Russia for Putin’s support for Assad that “will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use”.