Labour MPS fail to follow leader’s protest at lack of airstrikes vote

Gordon Rayner, Jack Maidment

Christopher Hope

DOZENS of Labour MPS deserted Jeremy Corbyn yesterday as he was defeated in a vote he called on the Syrian airstrikes.

The Labour leader had hoped to embarrass Theresa May by persuading Conservative MPS to vote with Labour over Parliament’s right to be consulted over military action.

However, 54 Labour MPS refused to vote at all, strengthening the Government victory by a majority of 61. Mr Corbyn had been granted an emergency debate by John Bercow, the Speaker, on the subject of MPS having “considered Parliament’s rights in relation to the approval of military action by British forces overseas”.

Labour MPS were whipped to vote against the motion to demonstrate that Parliament had not been given sufficient say in the weekend’s military strikes over Syria.

Mr Corbyn, opening the second emergency debate in as many days on Britain’s role in missile strikes on Syria’s chemical warfare facilities, said David Cameron, Mrs May’s predecessor, had sought authority for military action on several occasions.

Opening the debate, Mr Corbyn said: “I am sorry to say the Prime Minister’s decision not to recall Parliament and engage in further military action in Syria last week showed a flagrant disregard for this convention.”

The Labour leader said he backed a War Powers Act to give MPS a veto over British military interventions overseas.

Such an law could “specify at what point in decision-making processes MPS should be involved, as well as retaining the right of ministers to act in an emergency or in the country’s selfdefence”, he said.

But Mrs May warned that British lives would be compromised if it became illegal for governments to launch military action without the backing of MPS.

A War Powers Act would “seriously compromise” national security, national interests, and the lives of citizens at home and abroad, and mean that smaller-scale and targeted military action such as that over the weekend in Syria “would become unviable”, the Prime Minister said.

Mrs May defended her decision to take action without seeking Parliament’s approval, saying that coming to the Commons beforehand would have compromised the “effectiveness of our operations and safety of British servicemen and women”.

The motion was approved by 317 to 256. It was initially tabled by Labour to secure the debate and was supported by 307 Conservatives and 10 DUP MPS.

Of Labour’s 259 MPS, 205 voted against the motion – in line with Mr Corbyn’s request – with two also acting as tellers for the noes. ♦ France has begun the process of stripping Bashar al-assad, the Syrian president, of his Legion of Honour, the country’s highest distinction.

The move comes after Emmanuel Macron, alongside the United States and Britain, ordered military strikes on Syrian targets in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week.

Assad was awarded the honour in 2001 by Jacques Chirac, the French president at the time.