Volleyball hand signals behind back4/18/2024 ![]() "We're on the edge of real danger in the Middle East," he told MPs. The Commons was not taking its responsibilities seriously, said Mr McDonnell. He claimed Tony Blair only got a majority for the Iraq war because it was a whipped vote and suggested that if it had been a free vote the result might have been different. ![]() This wasn't a debate, it was just a discussion, he complained, because there was no vote. In his speech, former left-wing firebrand Mr McDonnell - now a more cuddly, avuncular figure - argued there should be not just Commons statements on military action like air strikes but proper debates with a vote. There was the former defence secretary Sir Liam Fox – who gave Mr Mitchell a hard time over still allowing Iranian airlines to fly into Heathrow and Iranian banks to remain in London – even close to the Bank of England! And this time the attendance truly was down to the "defence nerds", or – let's be more polite – defence specialists. Then, for Mr Sunak's statement after the second air strikes on Tuesday of this week the chamber was barely a third full. So packed that the Q&A detained the PM for two hours and the second reading of the government's controversial North Sea oil and gas licensing bill had to be postponed until earlier this week. Last Monday, for Rishi Sunak’s statement after the first air strikes, the chamber was packed. "Welcome to the nerds' club!" said Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell cheerfully in response.īut it does seem that MPs' interest in the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the US-UK air strikes is waning. He rather harshly suggested to the MPs present that it was mostly parliament's "defence nerds" who were taking part. It was the veteran Labour left-winger John McDonnell who remarked that there were only about 20 MPs in the Commons for the general debate on the situation in the Red Sea. "That's the danger when you don't have sufficient defence," he said. He gave the example of Argentina feeling comfortable invading the Falklands in 1982 and the vast expense of the ensuing battle to retake them. He said when Putin looks towards the UK, he'll think "they're obviously not that serious about it", citing our smaller naval capacity and lack of fighter jets to sit on board aircraft carriers. "But one of the ways of ensuring these things don't happen, for example, is if countries like the UK and in Europe spend money on defence because then when Putin looks, he thinks those people are taking it seriously." "I wouldn't want to frighten the horses by saying these things are going to happen," he said. Putin will think UK 'not serious' about defence Lord West went on to say it is "naïve to think these events around the world aren't going to impact on us", noting the war in Ukraine and the consequences of any war between NATO and Russia. He said the public have not noticed warnings from military people like him that "we're letting our defence capability decline" because "there are other things they're focused on". The "reality", he said, is "it's the most dangerous and unpredictable world I've known in the 50-60 years that I've been on the active list". He told Sophy the UK population has been "lulled into a false sense of security that there aren't that many threats and dangers to them personally, even though things are going on in the world". On tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, we heard from Lord Alan West, former first sea lord and chief of the naval staff.
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