Ken Clarke: May must consult MPs
Mrs May went round the table asking every member for their opinion on the next stage and whether to strike at Assad, despite the fears of a dramatic escalation.
Downing Street said: ‘Cabinet agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged.’
The Cabinet also agreed ‘on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime’. A spokesman said the PM would work with the US and France ‘to co-ordinate an international response’, in a clear sign it would be a three-pronged attack.
The extensive military force which could soon be within striking distance of Syria will have to outfox sophisticated Russian air defence radars.
Britain’s contribution is likely to include Tomahawk missiles fired from an Astuteclass submarine and Tornado jets stationed at Akrotiri.
Earlier in the week Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow had warned the US of ‘grave repercussions’ if it carried out an attack. And Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon threatened to attack any launch platforms used to fire weapons, raising the prospect of Western ships and planes being hit.
Sources told CNBC that Syria’s military had repositioned a significant amount of air assets to Russian-controlled airfields in the hope that Washington would be reluctant to strike there. Mr Nebenzia said yesterday the top priority was to avert war in Syria, and he did not rule out the possibility of a US-Russian conflict.
He said Russia was concerned with ‘the dangerous escalation’ of the situation and ‘aggressive policies’ and preparations that some governments were making. He added: ‘We hope that there will be no point of no return – that the US and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state.’
Mr Nebenzia told reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that ‘the danger of escalation is higher than simply Syria, because our military are there on the invitation of the Syrian government’.
Russia’s foreign ministry warned the US and its allies against assuming the role of a ‘global policeman’. Spokesman Maria Zakharova said Western leaders had no authority to be ‘investigators, prosecutors and executioners’.
Mr Trump said yesterday: ‘We’re having a number of meetings today, we’ll see what happens. Now we have to make some... decisions, so they’ll be made fairly soon.’
Mr Macron said: ‘We have proof that last week... chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. We will need to take decisions in due course, when we judge it most useful and effective.’
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