Cameron points to Syria vote as Labour divisions worsen

"I hope that when the choice comes people will indicate that this is the right thing for Britain to do. It is and we should do it," said Cameron, who last week said there was a compelling case for extending the RAF bombing of Islamic State terrorists from Iraq to Syria.

Cameron also attacked former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who yesterday suggested sending Chinese troops to Syria because British forces were “discredited”.

Livingstone, who is in joint charge of Labour's defence policy, told LBC radio: "We cannot put British troops on the ground because they are too discredited after Iraq and Afghanistan.

"But we should look to countries like China. I think China would jump at the opportunity to be involved because it would bring them on to the global stage. They have got millions of troops."

Cameron said: "I have the highest possible regard for the British Armed Forces. The person who frankly seems to be letting himself down is Ken Livingstone with [those] remarks."

A Survation poll yesterday found 48 per cent support for immediate action, compared to 30 per cent of people opposed.

However, despite Cameron saying strikes would make the UK safer, by a ratio of 3 to 1 people felt strikes would actually increase the risk of a terror attack at home.

Cameron has said he will not press for a vote unless he is sure of securing a majority.

Amid continuing Labour division over whether to enter theSyrian arena after the attacks in Paris, Tory ministers are phoning Labour MPs this weekend to shore up support for action.

Cameron confirmed Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond would tell opposition MPs about a “comprehensive” strategy for hitting IS and ending the Syrian civil war and with it the rule of president Bashar al-Assad.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has faced increasingly furious attacks from his own MPs on the issue since Thursday, when he told his shadow cabinet he would not support airstrikes.

He then issued an email to party members seeking their view, in what many Labour MPs saw as a blatant attempt to browbeat them into voting against military action.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn and deputy leader Tom Watson publicly disagree with Corbyn on the issue, and most of the shadow cabinet are also understood to be against him.

After initial speculation that Corbyn might try to whip Labour MPs, shadow chancellor John McDonnell suggested there would be a free vote instead, easing the tension.

A key Corbyn ally, he said whipping MPs on Iraq had been a “horrendous mistake”.

He said on BBC Radio 4: “This is a matter of conscience. You are sending people out possibly to die. There shouldn’t be any party discipline on matters like this.”

However Labour backbencher Grant Shuker said it was “frankly untenable” for the official opposition not to have a collective position on such an important issue.

SNP MP Stephen Gethins said Cameron had failed to explain how to stabilise Syria after a bombing campaign, with talk of 70,000 moderate Syrian opposition troops far-fetched.

“Ground troops are absolutely central to any success and their absence is one of the reasons we rejected military action. No one questions the need to tackle Daesh. But there is more to this conflict than adding the UK’s eight planes to the crowded skies above Syria.”

Around 5000 anti-war protesters gathered outside Downing Street yesterday.

The actor Mark Rylance, the musician Brian Eno and the former Respect MP George Galloway were among those to address a crowd chanting “Don’t bomb Syria” in Whitehall.

Rylance said bombing IS could ultimately strengthen the group: "I fear we may be playing right into what they want - bombing more civilians and therefore helping them recruit more desperate young men with no other way in responding in their grief than by fighting back."