War rhetoric dominates UK snap general election
By
Robert Stevens
29 April 2017
On Friday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson spoke at the UN Security Council in order to support and ratchet up the threats against North Korea made by US President Donald Trump.
Johnson said, “Britain stands alongside our allies in making clear that North Korea must obey the UN and halt its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes—disarming in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.”
He warned that the UN, “believes it is vital for this council to stand ready to take further significant measures” against Pyongyang.
The previous day Johnson reiterated his declaration that the UK would be prepared to support further US bombing in Syria, before indicating that the government may not seek parliamentary approval. He told BBC Radio’s “Today” programme, “[I]f they come to us and ask for our support—whether it’s with submarine-based cruise missiles in the Med … in my view—and I know it’s also the view of the prime minister—it would be difficult for us to say ‘no.’”
There is no legal requirement for parliament to authorise military action, but Defence Secretary Michael Fallon recently acknowledged that since the Iraq war in 2003 governments “go to Parliament to seek the authority” for action involving combat troops or aircraft.
Asked if UK military strikes would “need approval from the Commons,” Johnson said, “I think that needs to be tested. How we exactly implement that would be for the government and for the prime minister to decide.”
Earlier in the week, Johnson wrote a comment piece in the Tory supporting Sun, owned by billionaire oligarch Rupert Murdoch. While the media concentrated on his bizarre and derogatory description of…