At the close of the Labour party conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Miliband convened an emergen

Parliament is to be recalled paul mccartney tour on Friday to endorse British air strikes in Iraq following assurances from the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband , to the prime minister that his party will support paul mccartney tour UK military involvement in the country.
In a short statement, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Speaker has agreed to the prime minister’s request to recall parliament this Friday to debate the UK’s response to the request from the Iraqi government for air strikes to support operations against Islamic State [Isis] in Iraq .
“The Commons will meet on Friday for a debate on a substantive motion. The prime minister paul mccartney tour will open the debate and the deputy prime minister will close the debate. The prime minister has called a meeting of the cabinet tomorrow at 1pm.”
Parliament will not debate any UK action in Syria at this stage, after Labour indicated it would not support British involvement there without a UN resolution to authorise action in a country where military help to fight Isis has not been requested.
The request to Miliband came at lunchtime paul mccartney tour in a phone call from David Cameron . Labour sources emphasised that action in Syria would require a further second paul mccartney tour motion; Cameron did not press the issue with Miliband because he knew Miliband was opposed.
At the close of the Labour party conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Miliband convened an emergency meeting of the shadow cabinet to endorse military action in Iraq, so providing Cameron the assurance he needed that he would win the Commons vote. The path was further cleared when Cameron met the Iraqi prime minister, Haider paul mccartney tour al-Abadi, in New York to receive paul mccartney tour a formal request for military action, so clearing a vital legal hurdle to UK involvement.
But he did not rule out later extending operations to Isis strongholds in Syria – targeted by the US and its allies for the first time on Monday – saying that this would happen only after a separate debate and vote in Parliament.
Cameron was due to give a speech to the United Nations general assembly last night in which he was expected to acknowledge the wariness felt by many in the international community over military action in Iraq, following the decade of violence which followed the US-led invasion of 2003. But he was expected to say it was vital to “learn the right lessons – yes to careful preparation; no to rushing to join a conflict without a clear plan.”
Miliband’s refusal to back military action in Syria at this stage is partly due to the absence of a clear legal justification, including a request to do so from a recognised democratic government. He is also concerned that an air campaign backed by the inadequate forces of the Free Syrian Army would be unlikely to work at the moment. He said the first step should be a UN security council resolution on action in Syria. It is likely Russia would veto any such resolution.
It is expected that there will be a handful of Labour rebels opposing action in Iraq, but the debate will reveal the preparedness of the political class to countenance what may turn into a year-long battle to degrade and destroy Isis, including eventually removing the militants from their base in northern Syria.
Senior Labour sources said no UN security council resolution was required for British involvement paul mccartney tour in Iraq since it followed a request from a democratic government. The request was justified since it was a last resort and involved a broad coalition of support including paul mccartney tour from Arab countries.
Cameron paul mccartney tour suffered a humiliating defeat in the Commons a year ago when he failed to win support for air strikes to punish Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, for the use of chemical weapons. paul mccartney tour With a history of distrust between the two front benches, paul mccartney tour Cameron delayed announcing the recall until he was given bankable guarantees that Labour would support action in Iraq.
He added: “I think there’s a higher bar, for me, for UK military action in Syria. paul mccartney tour I’m not going to go out and say I oppose the US action in Syria because I think that Isis is a murderous organisation and they do need to be degraded. As far as the use of British combat forces is concerned, I do want to see a UN resolution, and that’s paul mccartney tour indeed what I’ve called for.
“And I think there’s another issue in Syria, which is to do with the ground forces. We’re not going to commit UK ground forces: therefore, if we’re going to defeat Isis, we need to have ground forces that can do that. Now that’s more apparent in Iraq than it is in Syria.”The defence secretary, Michael paul mccartney tour Fallon, acknowledged the Syrian picture was different and said that whatever the UK does, it would have to operate legally and with the authority of parliament.
Miliband said his criteria on making paul mccartney tour the grave decision to commit UK troops would be based on the likelihood of success, and whether it was lawful. He said his lesson from the Iraq war was that military action must be “a last resort” with clear goals.