Corbyn even weaker on defence with doubts over MI6 and SAS

LABOUR may oppose plans to increase the budget of MI6, Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday

The Labour leader questioned the need for more spies to defend Britain from terror attacks.

He said he was not convinced it was ‘necessary’ for MI6 to recruit an extra 1,000 staff, despite warnings about the growing threat posed by Islamic State.

Labour sources said Mr Corbyn was concerned about the way in which both the security services and the Special Forces such as the SAS were being allowed to expand without being made more accountable for their work.

His intervention raised fresh concerns about the Labour leader’s commitment to Britain’s defence. It came on the tumultuous opening day of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, as supporters and enemies of Mr Corbyn digested his victory in the party’s latest leadership contest.

MI6 chief Alex Younger warned last week that the threat posed by IS and other Islamist groups would last ‘a lifetime’.

Whitehall sources said the agency was recruiting an extra 1,000 staff – an increase of 40 per cent – to deal with the strain placed on it by terrorists’ growing use of technology. Asked whether he backed the increase yesterday, Mr Corbyn said: ‘I don’t necessarily think that’s particularly neces-

‘Not sensible to second guess security services’

sary. There has to be, obviously, security for everybody but I’m unclear as to why they want to be so much bigger.’

Labour sources said Mr Corbyn was unhappy about the ‘lack of accountability’ of MI6, and questioned its record in intelligence gathering. ‘They didn’t do a particularly good job in Iraq, did they?’ the source said.

Mr Corbyn is also said to be concerned by the lack of oversight of the Special Forces, which have expanded rapidly.

But former Labour security minister Lord West suggested Mr Corbyn did not understand what was at stake. ‘This is not a sensible area for the Leader of the Opposition to try to second guess the security services,’ he said. ‘I have no doubt that this increase is based on an assessment of the threat – what is needed to prevent terrorist outrages on the streets of this country.’

Mr Corbyn, vice-president of CND, has already angered Labour moderates by trying to drop the party’s support for Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Last week he was mocked for suggesting he will appoint a new ‘Minister for Peace’ at the Ministry of Defence if he wins power.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: ‘He wants to whack up taxes. He wants to abolish [the] Army. He wants nuclear submarines without nuclear missiles – so the country is literally firing blanks. It is not serious.’ The new defence row added to the chaos of a Labour conference bitterly divided between Mr Corbyn’s supporters and his MPs. Defiant moderates warned that the party needed to ‘change or die’ as they vowed to fight Mr Corbyn from within. Rumours swirled around the conference that he could face more front bench resignations this week. A new national opinion poll out yesterday put Labour on just 26 per cent, 15 points behind the Tories. If replicated in a general election, the figures would hand the Conservatives a majority of around 100. Aides said Mr Corbyn has begun work on a reshuffle of his top team, which will be unveiled next week. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has sparked rumours of a political comeback after he declined to rule out a return to the frontbench.

A Jewish peer has quit the Labour Party over the ‘violent anti-Israel views’ of Mr Corbyn’s allies. Ex-business spokesman Lord Mitchell said the party was ‘a lost cause’.