Corbyn condemned for call to end drone warfare
On security, policing and crime, the Opposition have failed to make plans and cannot be trusted
JEREMY CORBYN called for Britain’s drone programme to be scrapped, dubbing it an “obscenity”, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Newly emerged footage of a 2013 protest shows the Labour leader – then a backbencher – calling drones “the ultimate in sanitised warfare”.
Drones, which are unmanned aircraft, are used in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and were deployed to kill Mohammed Emwazi, the group’s executioner known as Jihadi John.
Conservatives jumped on the disclosure to raise fresh questions about Mr Corbyn’s suitability for office when it came to national security.
Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, writes in this newspaper that the comments show “an irresponsible and nonsensical ignorance to the way we protect our country”.
Mr Corbyn drew criticism last month when he declined to say he would authorise the killing of Isil’s leader if he were prime minister.
In 2013, he took part in a protest at RAF Waddington, the military base where armed Reaper drones are flown remotely by British soldiers. Footage, which can be seen at Telegraph.co.uk, shows Mr Corbyn criticising the programme.
“We’re here today to say that we don’t agree with these drones. We don’t agree with this obscenity that’s going on before our very eyes here,” he says. “That’s why just as much as we want to get rid of landmines, small arms, nuclear weapons, we want to get rid of drones as well.
“Because they are the ultimate in sanitised warfare where you immunise yourself against the reality of it, knowing full well that a family with barely enough to eat are going to be killed by a multi-million-pound weapon at the press of a button by someone in an air- conditioned office in the mid-west of the USA or right here in Lincolnshire.”
Mr Corbyn was chairman of the Stop the War group and a key figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament before he won the Labour leadership.
But the Tories claimed it was proof that he was not prepared to take tough decisions on security.
Ms Rudd calls the footage “alarming” and says drones are crucial in the fight against Isil.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Jeremy was reflecting the concerns of former UN secretary-general Ban Kimoon that the use of armed drones away from the battlefield has been shown to pose a serious threat to innocent civilians.
“Jeremy has been proved right time and time again that the best way to protect the British people is to strengthen international institutions and uphold international law rather than get involved in wars that put our troops and people at risk.”
The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens, whether the threat is a domestic one or from abroad. This seems to be something that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party have yet to grasp.
Alarmingly, this week new footage has emerged of Mr Corbyn condemning the very weapons that the UK uses in the fight against Isil as an “obscenity” – in a rally actually outside an RAF base. Mr Corbyn plainly states that he would get rid of drones altogether – apparently ignoring the vital role they play in giving us a capability for targeted strikes against Isil and al-Qaeda jihadists, as well as crucial intelligence-gathering.
They are a key weapon in our battle against radical extremists who are opposed to absolutely every ideal we hold dear. Saying we should scrap drones shows an irresponsible and nonsensical ignorance of the way we protect our country. It lets down our servicemen and servicewomen fighting terrorists who want to harm us. And it is a slap in the face for our world-leading aerospace industry and the people who work in it.
This latest revelation about how Mr Corbyn would weaken our defences comes hot on the heels of his refusal to say whether he would authorise a drone strike on Isil chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is a man responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East, as well as the brutal murders of numerous hostages, the radicalisation of individuals around the world and the incitement of goodness knows how many acts of terrorism – acts that end up being dealt with on the streets of Britain by our brave policemen and women.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, aspires to be the person who in five short weeks will sit around the Cabinet table to represent – and set policy for – our police. Yet this week, it was utter chaos and confusion as she struggled to answer basic questions about what was apparently a flagship election policy promise about extra police officers. It revealed the incompetence and chaos at the heart of Mr Corbyn’s party.
Ms Abbott – Jeremy Corbyn’s close ally – was sent on to the airwaves to explain this election promise. It was a disaster, as she floundered over how much it would cost, exactly how many officers she actually wanted and how Labour would deliver this ill-thoughtthrough pledge.
Ms Abbott later tried to explain away the excruciating radio interview, during which her additional police officers were going to cost £300,000, then £80million, and then, finally, £300million – all apparently to come from funds that Labour had in fact already committed elsewhere several times over.
But the key thing isn’t even that agonising interview itself. It’s that it lays bare the simple truth that Ms Abbott and Mr Corbyn are just not up to the job of keeping our families, our communities and our country safe. They have not done their sums. They don’t have a plan. They just haven’t thought things through.
Imagining Labour in charge is a chilling prospect. The last time they were in power, they tied the police up in red tape, so that they were form-fillers stuck in backoffice jobs, spending more time on paperwork than on patrol. They imposed targets from Whitehall for local police forces saying what their priorities should be, and they did nothing to reform the police to better equip them to cut crime and serve the public.
Under the Conservatives, crime – as it is traditionally measured – is down by more than a third, meaning people are safer on the streets and in our communities. We have protected spending on the police budget, and we have invested £144 million to uplift armed policing capability to respond more effectively to an attack at home.
We have given the police just one target – to cut crime, and we have cut red tape so that they can focus on what really matters to our communities.
It is not just a case of standing on our past record. It is providing the leadership and the reassurance that we are in the best possible position to protect ourselves from future threats. In a world that can sometimes seem uncertain, and at the very time when we face challenges on many fronts, it is the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May that Britain needs.
Labour are a danger to our security and our economy, and are wholly incapable of negotiating the best Brexit deal for Britain. Under Mr Corbyn, Labour are a shambles.
As Home Secretary, there is only one question that I would want
Sunday Telegraph readers to ask themselves: “Do I really trust Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn to keep me and my family safe?”
Amber Rudd is Home Secretary