‘BombSyria’
PM craves speedy Commons support...but is she turning into Trump poodle?
THERESA May wants MPs to rush through a vote to bomb Syria if she wins the election.
But it led to accusations she is Donald Trump’s poodle. Lib Dem boss Tim Farron said: “The idea
that after months of disinterest and inaction Theresa May would back military intervention against Assad outside of a wider diplomatic strategy and without UN backing is deeply worrying. “The UK must not rush headlong into supporting further unilateral military action in Syria by Donald Trump.” Mrs May wants all parties to approve bombing raids against president Bashar al-Assad if he launches any more gas attacks on his own people should she retains her job as PM on June 9. Her call comes just weeks after Mr Trump unleashed 59 cruise missiles on a Syrian airfield from where the attacks are said to have been launched. A senior Whitehall source said: “If you want to stop the use of chemical weapons you have to take out the aircraft.” But there were fears if the PM gets her way it could take us into a lengthy conflict and risk raising tensions with the Russians, who are backing Assad in his war on rebels. And Mr Farron warned Mrs May could be going down the same path as Tony Blair, who was accused of being George W Bush’s poodle after he slavishly followed him into the Iraq War as Labour PM. He said: “Undermining international law and rejecting international co-operation has the potential to create instability on a global scale, seen all too clearly by the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“May would be wise not to use Syria as a campaign tool in this election. This sudden declaration comes across as calculating, and without the best interest of the Syrian people at heart.”
Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith added: “We must explore all options to combat Assad.” In 2013, then PM David Cameron failed to get MPs’ approval to bomb Assad but in a second bid two years later he was given the green light for limited attacks on Islamic State terrorists operating in the country.
The Mirror can reveal the Government is now convinced dictator Assad was behind the gas attack which killed 80 men, women and children in Idlib last month.
Two Syrian generals are prime suspects after they were spotted at the Shayrat airbase on April 4, two days before the horror strike.
Intelligence analysis has shown only two planes were in the area at the time and these were both from the Syrian air force.
Tests on victim’s samples that were sneaked out of the area to Britain’s Porton Down laboratories showed they contained Sarin or something similar.
THE Mirror’s revelation that Theresa May is plotting, if re-elected, for a new Commons vote for Britain to bomb Syria is of great concern.
Letting Donald Trump lead her by the hand and launch strikes on Bashar al-Assad’s forces would risk Britain becoming involved in a potential clash between America and Russia.
She should be wary of poodling up to an unstable US President who rules by whim and is, alas, a potentially dangerous military ally.
Assad may be a heinous war criminal but we do not want to repeat the mistakes of Blair’s disastrous alliance with Bush against Iraq.
If May wins a landslide, as polls suggest, the new parliament must not be bounced into a quick decision our nation could live to regret,
Meanwhile, her election politicking on the steps of No10 yesterday was alarming as she launched into a full paranoid conspiracy theory involving the whole of Europe.
May’s crude jingoism is not strong or stable leadership, it’s a dangerous Tory ploy.
We want the best Brexit deal for British jobs and families, manipulating an election fight with the European Union doesn’t help.
Today there is a chance to stop May’s hopes for one-party Tory rule as local and metro Mayor elections take place across Britain. If you have a vote please use it.