...and more than 50 MPs desert him over Syria vote

JEREMY Corbyn faced a rebellion by dozens of Labour MPs last night after he launched a failed bid to limit the Prime Minister’s power to order military action.

More than 50 Labour MPs ignored Mr Corbyn’s orders to join him in a symbolic vote against the Government last night in protest at Theresa May’s failure to consult Parliament before ordering air strikes against Syria. The Labour abstentions helped the Government avoid a Commons defeat by 317 votes to 256.

Mr Corbyn called yesterday’s emergency debate to make the case for a new War Powers Act which would make it all-but impossible for future prime ministers to order military action of any kind without the approval of Parliament.

He said Mrs May had shown a ‘flagrant disregard’ for the convention that military action should normally be approved in advance by MPs. And he said new legislation 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 self-defence’. But the Prime Minister defended her decision to act without seeking approval, saying that coming to the Commons beforehand would have compromised the ‘effectiveness of our operations and safety of British servicemen and women’.

And she said a War Powers Act would mean smaller-scale and targeted military action such as that over the weekend in Syria ‘would become unviable’.

Mrs May said that Parliament should have the right to vote on full-scale military action like the invasion of Iraq. But she said the government had to be free to order more limited action quickly. Former Labour frontbencher Heidi Alexander said she believed the Government should have the right to retain flexibility to act without recourse to Parliament, and said: ‘Had I been in the Prime Minister’s shoes last week, I think it is likely that I would have chosen a similar course.’

Only 205 of Labour’s 259 MPs obeyed Mr Corbyn’s order to vote against the government. One rebel said it was wrong to ‘play games’ with the issue.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen drew laughs with a sideswipe at Mr Corbyn, suggesting the Labour leader would not authorise military action even if the Isle of Wight were invaded.

In the run-up to last weekend’s air strikes some Tory MPs urged Mrs May to recall Parliament to debate the issue. Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh yesterday said the power to act without parliamentary approval ‘should be used on as few occasions (as possible), if at all’. But no Tory MPs voted with Mr Corbyn.