Corbyn's al-Baghdadi response shows he is "anti-West", says former Labour MP
13 November 2019, 17:10 | Updated: 13 November 2019, 17:13
A former Labour MP has said Jeremy Corbyn's recent criticism of IS leader al-Baghdadi's death shows he is "anti-West".
This is after Jeremy Corbyn told LBC "the right thing to do" would have been to arrest al-Baghdadi as opposed to pursuing him in a US military operation, which led to his suicide.
Former Labour MP Tom Harris said: "Isn't it significant that when he's asked about Baghdadi's death, he immediately blames America and American troops by saying if we're going to preach the rule of law we must uphold it.
"Well, it is rather difficult to uphold the rule of law and make an arrest when the person you're trying to arrest is wearing a suicide vest. al-Baghdadi died by his own hand. Would it really have been so much of a problem for Jeremy Corbyn to say 'Yeah I'm glad he's dead' because he was an evil individual?"
Eddie countered that it's healthy to see a political leader standing up for the rule of law, when it would be an easy response to say I'm glad he's dead, and posited that this behaviour was even "statesmanlike."
Harris said that that would be statesman like but is not what Jeremy Corbyn was doing.
"Every time he automatically and instinctively sides against the West, against NATO and against America."
Harris cited that Corbyn was arrested outside the Old Bailey in 1986 because he took part in a pro-IRA demonstration in support of the man who planted the Brighton bomb. Harris then likened this to the terrible murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and if a Tory MP campaigned outside that man's trial then became the Tory leader would be "unconscionable".
He continued that these actions reveal Corbyn's core values which don't say much for him leading our nation.
Eddie asked why Corbyn is seen as a security threat to Britain if he becomes Prime Minister, to which Harris said "everyone in the world knows Jeremy Corbyn will never press the button" on nuclear weapons, which means there is no deterrent for any other country to bomb the UK.
Harris said senior intelligence officers in Australia and America are worried about sharing information to the UK because "they do not trust the motivations of Corbynn and the people around him.
Harris continued that the reason is Corbyn "has a history of anti-West, anti-British, anti-NATO rhetoric for the last 40 years."
