THE SNP have called for “honesty and transparency” from David Cameron after it emerged that he was aware of UK pilots being embedded with US forces in Syria as far back as last autumn.
It comes after Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, robustly rejected claims MPs were "kept in the dark" about the involvement of British pilots in airstrikes in Syria.
He told MPs this week it was "standard practice" for UK personnel to be embedded with allied forces, stressing how their engagement was not a "British military operation".
Last year, MPs backed UK airstrikes against so-called Islamic State fighters in Iraq but not in Syria. In 2013, they voted against taking any military action against the Assad regime.
The involvement of UK pilots in action over Syria, acting in co-operation with the US and other allied forces, only emerged because of a Freedom of Information request earlier this month.
In a parliamentary written answer to Brendan O’Hara, the SNP’s defence spokesman, the Prime Minister said embedding military personnel was a long-standing policy practised by many countries and he was “aware the Defence Secretary authorised the first embed with US forces in Syria in the autumn of last year”.
In response, Mr O’Hara, who represents Argyll and Bute, said: “This is more breath-taking arrogance from the UK Government on military involvement in Syria,” stressing how it showed Mr Cameron had “simply ignored” the 2013 MPs’ vote.
“It is becoming clear that far from a being a decision made within the last few weeks or months, this has been a long time in the planning, and the Government must now be absolutely clear about the timing and justification for this highly controversial military operation.”
Arguing the case for bombing Syria had not been made, Mr O’Hara added: “The Government's policy in this matter is entirely unacceptable - effectively overseeing a bombing campaign by stealth – and we urgently need honesty and transparency about precisely when it was authorised, who knew about it and when the Government was proposing to tell the country; if ever."
But Mr Fallon had insisted the embedding of the pilots in the country was "legal and necessary."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel