David Cameron is making the case for air strikes against IS in Syria, saying the aim is to “keep the British people safe” from terror attacks. He faced calls to apologise for reportedly saying opponents of action were “terrorist sympathisers”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the comment “demeans the office of prime minister”. The PM declined to apologise, but said there was “honour” in voting for or against military action.
The prime minister also defended his controversial claim that there were 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria, saying it was the estimate of the Joint Intelligence Committee – the UK’s senior intelligence body. He said the majority were members of the Free Syrian Army and that there were a further 20,000 Kurdish fighters with whom Britain could also work.
He told MPs the forces were “not ideal, not as many as we would like, but they are people we can work with”. Mr Cameron said that in future the UK government would be referring to IS as Daesh as much as possible, because “this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor is it a state”.
