UK BRACED FOR CYBER REVENGE
May defends Syria raid – but lets MPs have a say Action ‘will help deter chemical attacks in UK’
Fears of Putin retaliation over Syria strikes May insists action was in our ‘national interest’ She faces threat of knife-edge Commons vote
BRITAIN was braced for a Russian cyber attack last night as officials warned of swift retaliation for the military strikes on Syria.
Intelligence officers at GCHQ and the ministry of Defence are on standby to hit back if the Kremlin wages cyber warfare. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson acknowledged the threat yesterday, saying the UK had to take ‘every possible precaution’.
It is feared vital transport systems, water supplies, gas networks, banks, hospitals and even air traffic control could be hacked by russia in response to the assault on Bashar alAssad’s chemical weapons facilities.
Intelligence sources also fear the retaliation could involve the online release of so-called ‘kompromat’ – compromising information on mPs or other public figures.
Last night, the Pentagon said there was a 2,000 per cent increase in the number of russian trolls spreading Kremlin propaganda in the hours after the air strikes. As the fallout from the military action intensified:
Theresa may faces a knife- edge vote in the Commons over her decision to join Saturday morning’s
THE Prime Minister will today insist that the UK had to strike Syria ‘in our national interest’ to deter chemical weapon attacks on British streets.
Facing the threat of a knife-edge Commons vote, Theresa May will invoke the Salisbury poisonings in her defence of the military action.
In a statement to MPs, she will point to the need to ensure the use of chemical weapons does not become normalised – ‘either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere’.
She will ask Speaker John Bercow for an emergency six-hour debate on the action, giving MPs from both sides of the House the chance to have a say.
But Labour will try to force a vote after the debate – raising the prospect of a humiliating, retrospective defeat.
Mrs May has faced considerable criticism for not recalling Parliament to gain approval for joining the US-led action against Bashar al-Assad’s despotic regime.
Tory MPs have been told they must be in the Commons today and tomorrow in case there is a vote on her handling of the Syria crisis.
Downing Street officials said they believed a vote was unlikely – but did not rule out the possibility of other parties forcing one later in the week.
Writing in today’s Sun newspaper Mrs May says the chemical attack in Douma was ‘an act of almost unimaginable horror’. Of her decision to take military action she says: ‘It was the first time as Prime Minister I have sent our brave Armed Forces into combat, and I did not take the decision lightly. But I was absolutely certain that it was the right and legal thing to do – and at the right time.
‘For, by moving with speed, and in coordination with our close allies, we were able to protect the vital operational security of the mission.’
Today the Prime Minister will tell MPs: ‘ Let me be absolutely clear. We have acted because it is in our national interest to do so. 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. For we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.’ Jeremy Corbyn again questioned the legality of the UK’s role in the 105-missile strike – and called for legislation to stop military action without MPs’ support.
Mrs May will point to strong international backing from world leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and European Council president Donald Tusk since the strike. ‘UN Security Council-mandated inspectors have investigated previous attacks and on four occasions decided that the regime was indeed responsible,’ she will say. ‘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. And we cannot wait to alleviate further humanitarian suffering caused by chemical weapons attacks.
‘We have done it because we believed it was the right thing to do. And we are not alone. There is broad based international support for the action we have taken.’
Mr Corbyn told BBC1’ s Andrew Marr Show that legislation was needed. The Labour leader said: ‘What we need in this country is something more
‘Believed it was the right thing to do’ ‘Humanitarian suffering’
robust like a War Powers Act so governments do get held to account by Parliament for what they do in our name.’
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said any such law would not apply to urgent cases such as ‘when we are under attack or the prime minister has been kidnapped’.
But Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s deputy, said there were ‘no plans’ for legislation.
The decision on whether there will be a vote – on a motion saying ‘the House has considered this’ – is technically a matter for the Speaker.
Yesterday it emerged Chief Whip Julian Smith had emailed MPs putting them on a threeline whip for tomorrow afternoon. Government sources said they were confident the PM had MPs’ backing. A senior Whitehall source said they did not want a vote before military action to become a precedent.