Labour leader Jeremy Corby has refused to say if he would order the killing of the head of Islamic State, as well as hinting his party could scrap Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
“I am not a defender or supporter of ISIS in any way”, Mr. Corby insisted on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show Sunday morning.
Asked if he would be prepared to authorise a drone strike on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, he refused to commit.
He said: “What I would tell them is give me the information you have got, tell me how accurate that is and tell me what you think can be achieved.”
Continuing: “What is the objective here? Is the objective to start more strikes that may kill many innocent people as has happened or is the objective to get a political solution in Syria?
“My whole point would be, does this help to get a political solution in Syria?”
The comments come as Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the man running the Conservative’s general election campaign, said Britain would be at increased risk of terror attacks under Mr. Corbyn’s leadership.
He told The Telegraph the 67-year-old socialist was “not suitable” for the role of Prime Minister because he would be unable to make “uncomfortable” decisions that the job entailed.
Mr. Corbyn also appeared to cast doubt on a future Labour government’s support for the nuclear deterrent system
“I want us to achieve a nuclear-free world, to adhere to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and take part in negotiations surrounding that,” he said.
“The issue has to be that we want a secure and peaceful world… You achieve that by promoting peace and also promoting security. Security comes from that process.”
The Labour party was quick to distance itself from the comments of its own leader, issuing a statement clarifying their support for the Trident missile system just three hours later.
“The decision to renew Trident has been taken and Labour supports that. We also want Britain to do much more to pursue a proactive, multilateral disarmament strategy”, the party said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.