The statement from our Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, concerning the US bombing of Syria was a measured and appropriate response which refused to join those cheerleading for the US military action.
The six year old civil war in Syria has caused untold misery and Emily Thornberry, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, was right at the weekend to say that “Anything we do needs to be seen in terms of how we bring this war to an end faster”.
In these circumstances the bellicose grandstanding of Boris Johnson, pulling out of a visit to Moscow as a gesture, shows that Theresa May’s Tory Government has nothing constructive to offer towards peace in the Middle East.
On the contrary, Theresa May, as Emily Thornberry has pointed out in the Guardian, has been off to Saudi Arabia to drum up interest in the products of our arms trade – already being used in the civil war in Yemen.
Labour Party members can participate in the National Policy Forum’s current consultation on our International policies – and those of us who are impressed by a Party leadership which stands out against action that escalates conflict will be particularly keen to do so before that consultation ends on 31 May 2017.
