Corbyn: I Can’t Back PM’s Syria Airstrikes

Corbyn remains opposed to such a vote but his Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn has said there is a “compelling” case for bombing Islamic State in the civil war-ravaged country.

“And win over the House of Commons”, French President Hollande told AFP at the Commonwealth summit in Malta.

Mr Cameron said IS terrorists – who have carried out 40 successful attacks around the world in 12 months – had “repeatedly tried to attack us right here in Britain”.

“Not only will we bolster our training mission in northern Iraq but we will, among other things, make a contribution to the fight against IS terror with Tornado reconnaissance jets”.

The prospect of resignations has been raised, with one frontbencher telling Sky News he will resign his portfolio if he is forced to vote against military action.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he will not seek the support of the House unless he is certain of winning as defeat would hand a propaganda victory to the extremists. “There are some issues like going to war that should be above party politics, and I think we are moving to a situation where hopefully in all parties on issues like this a moral conscience should be above the whip as well”.

But Mr Corbyn then surprised his colleagues by sending MPs a letter saying he had already decided that he could not support the proposal to send the RAF into action in Syria.

“You can’t force people to vote to kill other people or not to vote to kill them”.

Labour’s anti-war leader Jeremy Corbyn is against any military action but Cameron appears increasingly confident he can get enough support from Labour MPs to pass the vote, particularly after last week’s UN Security Council resolution authorising countries to “take all necessary measures” against IS.

After a fiery shadow cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Corbyn ordered his MPs to go back to their constituencies this weekend and canvas the views of party members.

Deputy leader Tom Watson became the latest leading figure to speak out in support of bombing Islamic State (IS) in its Syrian heartland, putting him directly at odds with the party leader.

“The shadow cabinet will continue its discussions on Monday and it may be that that is where we end up”, he said.

Mr Corbyn, who wants members to give their thoughts on the airstrikes by the start of next week, is facing a shadow cabinet revolt over the issue.

I put a series of questions in response to the Prime Minister’s statement, raising concerns about his case that are on the minds of many in the country. “I think it [his leadership] probably is unsustainable”.

Corbyn said his team of senior lawmakers had debated the issue extensively during a meeting on Thursday and would meet again on Monday to “attempt to reach a common view”.