Theresa May refuses to answer Syria airstrikes question three times

Theresa May refused three times to answer a question on whether the UK would engage in air strikes against the Assad regime in Syria without a parliamentary vote on the matter, as the Foreign Secretary had earlier indicated it would.

At a campaign event in Leeds, the Prime Minister was asked the same question three times, about whether the UK would, as Boris Johnson had, find it ‘hard to say no’ to any request from the United States to launch strikes against the Assad regime, and would not necessarily seek a parliamentary vote on the matter.

She said it was a “hypothetical question” and that “there are no plans” for such a strike to take place.

She also refused to say whether Boris Johnson would keep his job as Foreign Secretary in the event of an election victory. Asked that direct question she replied only that Boris Johnson was “doing a great job” as Foreign Secretary, and would be “campaigning hard” for a Conservative victory.

It has been reported that Boris Johnson has been sidelined from the election campaign, though he marked his arrival on the trail this morning in an article for The Sun in which he called Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a ‘mutton-headed mugwump.’

Labour said he had ‘demeaned his office’ with the comments.