Corbyn is all at sea on defence
He’d ‘review’ Trident – and only defend Falklands as ‘last resort’
LABOUR’S defence policy was in chaos last night after Jeremy Corbyn refused to commit to sending British troops to defend a Nato ally.
The party leader also declined to declare that he supported the UK’s liberation of the Falklands.
And he threw Labour’s policy on Trident into fresh confusion by suggesting he would hold a review into the nuclear deterrent within weeks of moving into No 10.
In an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Corbyn also confirmed he is a CND member, saying: ‘I have been a member all my life. I want to see a nuclear free world.’
Article 5 of the Nato Treaty sets out that an attack on one member is an attack on all. Asked whether he would send troops to defend an ally under attack from Russia, he said: ‘Article 5 of the Nato Treaty says there is a duty to support any other nation state that is under threat. That doesn’t necessarily mean sending troops. It means diplomatic, it means economic, it means sanctions, it means a whole range of things.’
The Labour leader also refused to endorse a single combat mission British troops have been involved in since the Second World War. After a speech to foreign policy experts at Chatham House in London yesterday, he was asked which UK military interventions since 1945 he backed. He was only able to list three – two peacekeeping missions and the bid to save refugees crossing the Mediterranean.
He said: ‘Yes there are deployments – largely through the United Nations – that I think are the right things to do,’ he said. ‘I mentioned what went on in East Timor, there has been great help done in peacekeeping in Cyprus and incredible work done by Royal Marines and others in helping refugees to survive... at risk in the Mediterranean.’
His failure to mention the Falklands War of 1982 will be seen as a sign that he would not send the British military to defend the islands if Argentina invades again.
Before he became leader, Mr Corbyn branded the conflict a ‘Tory plot’ in which ‘unemployed men’ were sent to die. Last night a shadow foreign minister, Catherine West, told BBC Radio 4’s PM show that if Mr Corbyn had been in power in 1982, ‘his initial reaction and his instincts would have been to make discussions and talks and negotiations a higher priority than military intervention.’ Asked whether Mr Corbyn would defend the Falklands militarily, Miss West added: ‘It would be a last resort.’ The comments raised fears that Labour would not help the people of Gibraltar – as Spain raises tensions over the Rock. Spanish mili negotiations, tary ships have made incursions into British waters – forcing the Royal Navy to act. EU chiefs back Spain’s claims on Gibraltar and are set to demand an end to the Rock’s tax haven status as part of Brexit as well as a ban on international airlines at its airport and the Royal Navy’s departure.
At the same London event, Mr Corbyn threw Labour’s policy on Trident into fresh confusion by suggesting he would hold a strategic defence review into it within weeks of moving into No 10. He would ‘inherit’ the current government’s decision, approved by MPs, to build a replacement of the four Clyde-based submarines carrying the UK’s nuclear missiles. But he added: ‘We will also undertake a strategic defence review ... looking at all aspects of our defence priorities for the future.’ However, in a sign of Labour confusion, a senior party source said later that the future of the deterrent would form part of the SDR. He then clarified: ‘Trident is part of the SDR but its renewal is not in question.’
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Mr Corbyn ‘a guy who has campaigned all his life to weaken the UK’s defences’. Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former head of the Army’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: ‘Both Kosovo and Sierra Leone were highly successful and saved many lives and non-intervention in Syria has led to thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.’
‘Campaigned all his life to weaken UK’
AFTer the leak of Comrade Corbyn’s manifesto, exposing his Marxist recipe for economic ruin, it was hard to imagine what more he could do or say to make himself unelectable.
Yesterday he supplied the answer, unveiling a defence policy that amounts to rolling over and inviting any hostile power to walk all over us.
Anyone who thought the future of our nuclear deterrent was assured after Parliament approved Trident’s renewal – with Labour’s official endorsement – had better think again. In yesterday’s speech, Mr Corbyn threw the question back into the air, indicating that he would submit our nuclear capability to review.
But even if Trident stays, he made it clear to our enemies that they needn’t worry, because he would never use it!
Instead, he would appoint a ‘peace minister’, while promoting talks to achieve a nuclear-free world. And he hopes to persuade Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un? Good luck with that.
More disturbing still, Mr Corbyn refused to say he’d help a Nato ally if it came under attack. Thus, he undermines the whole basis of the West’s defence. To cap it all, he sent out a clear signal that he wouldn’t lift a finger to protect the Falklands or other British possessions such as Gibraltar.
First on the economy, now on defence, this was the week Mr Corbyn showed it is simply not safe to vote for him.