As the 8 June general election approaches fast, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been talking foreign policy. He recently pledged that he wouldn’t be sending any more British troops into Afghanistan because that wouldn’t solve anything, and now he’s been getting more specific about policy. Corbyn says he is “not a pacifist” and would rather bring back into play the foreign policy on the side of ethical practice that the late Robin Cook was a fan of.
According to the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry (whose article in The Guardian was picked up by the Press Association), this will entail looking into the contracts the UK has with Bahrain and the other authoritarian regime we’re in bed with, a halt to the selling of weapons to Saudi Arabia, and no one-sided action against the regime in Syria.
US President Donald Trump has no such qualms, since he sent 60 Tomahawk missiles over there, blowing the heck out of the Assad’s air force, but then Corbyn appears to want to distance himself from Mr. Trump.
Corbyn has spoken against Theresa May for visiting the White House
Current British Prime Minister Theresa May, the one who made the call for the General Election because she’s worried people don’t like her and don’t want her to be the PM, so here we go, let’s see if they do, recently visited the White House and held Trump’s hand (apparently because he’s afraid of slopes – this is the man who’s supposed to be intimidating America’s enemies with his fierceness and decisive military action), and Corbyn has taken the opportunity to criticise her for her relationship with him, using the hand-holding as the perfect metaphor.
Corbyn has promised to distance himself from Trump if he’s elected into Downing Street. He said that “stability” will never come to the British government if we’re constantly “pandering to an erratic Trump administration.” He then led into a dig at May, saying this would mean “no more hand-holding with Donald Trump.” Instead, he promises that a Labour government’s foreign policy, if they win the election in June, will be “robust and independent” – and be home-grown, as he adds “made in London,” meaning no influence from outside parties like Trump or the Saudis.
Thornberry’s article has had quotes highlighted by the PA
The Thornberry article that got picked up by the Press Association has had a handful of quotes highlighted by the PA. In the article, Thornberry warns readers that if Theresa May and the Conservative Party win the general election, then Britain will get quickly swept into the civil war going on in Syria, and she calls this a signifier of May’s dangerous “devotion” to Donald Trump.
This is an attempt to get Labour elected, as both Corbyn and Thornberry are against the use of unilateral force in Syria, as it will only serve to further the civil unrest.
Trump is all for unilateral action in Syria, and has in fact taken some. And according to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the Assad is on very thin ice. He said that Trump would barely hesitate to use missiles against the regime again, not just for the use of chemical weapons, but even if they use barrel bombs, which they use all the time. One of Thornberry’s quotes sums up Corbyn’s peaceful, anti-war stance: “A disregard for human rights leads to disdain for the human consequences of war.” It sounds like it’s engraved on a plaque appended to the iron statue of a great person who died five hundred years ago.
But that’s not the case, it was just published in The Guardian and it was written by the shadow foreign secretary.
Thornberry, speaking on behalf of Corbyn, also warned that as soon as Theresa May becomes Prime Minister again, she will instantly call for a vote on taking unilateral military force against the Assad regime, which Thornberry calls “a fresh act of devotion to Trump.” She warns that unilateral action in Syria will both “escalate and prolong” the conflict in the country, and also “risk bringing us into conflict with Russia and Iran – and all without any UN agreement or authorisation.” Worrisome stuff.
