DAVID Cameron’s “despicable” remarks branding MPs opposed to air strikes “terrorist sympathisers” spectacularly backfired yesterday when he faced a barrage of calls to apologise.
As the PM put his case in the Commons for RAF bombings on Daesh targets in Syria, his arguments were overshadowed by the comments he had made the previous evening to his backbenchers.
Alex Salmond was among the first to hit out, blasting the PM for his “deeply insulting” language when he took him to task on the floor of the House.
“You are facing an amendment signed by 110 members of this House from six different political parties. I’ve examined the list very carefully, and I cannot identify a single terrorist sympathiser,” the former First Minister told MPs.
“Will he apologise for his deeply insulting remarks?”
But the PM refused to back down, provoking further fury from those opposed to the raids.
Cameron’s comments were made to his Tory backbenchers on Tuesday night in his bid to persuade them to back his case for air strikes.
“You should not be walking through the lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathisers,” he told a meeting of the 1922 committee.
Collum Eastwood, leader of the SDLP, was also among those to condemn the remarks, pointing out that during The Troubles his party’s MPs faced huge personal risk at the hands of paramilitaries while the PM had been enjoying “a life of privilege”.
“David Cameron’s remarks describing those opposed to air strikes in Syria as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ are appalling, inaccurate and offensive in the extreme,” he said.
Referring to his party MPs – who like the SNP, Plaid Cymru and many in Labour, oppose air strikes – he added: “To describe people like Mark Durkan, Margaret Ritchie and Alasdair McDonnell as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ is absolutely galling.
“These are people who stood strongly against violence for over 40 years at great personal risk while people like David Cameron enjoyed a life of privilege. His comments are totally despicable and he should withdraw them immediately.”
The party’s former leader John Hume masterminded the peace process in Northern Ireland and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 1998, along with the then Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble. Hume faced numerous loyalist threats during the peace process in the late 1980s and 1990s and was also said to be on an IRA hit list during the conflict.
Eastwood added: “SDLP MPs will proudly walk through the voting lobbies with our colleagues in Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and other parties to oppose military action. We will not legitimise the trigger finger of a Prime Minister more concerned with the theatrics of winning a political victory over the Labour Party than the devastation that will rain down on innocents in Raqqa as they are used as human shields by vicious cowards in IS.”
Former Labour minister Caroline Flint was the first to call on Cameron to apologise for his remarks, backed up by Labour’s John Woodcock who told him it would be “helpful” to “retract his inappropriate comment”. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also spoke out and said the comments “demeaned” his office.
But Cameron did not apologise.
However, during his speech he took a more respectful stance towards his opponents when he opened the debate yesterday.
“Everyone in this House should make up their mind on the arguments in this House and there’s honour in voting for, there’s honour in voting against,” he said.
“I respect people who come to a different view. I respect people who disagree.”
His remarks were particularly aimed a Labour leader Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and echoed an attack on Corbyn at the Tory conference in October.
Both have come under criticism for attending events organised by Irish republican groups.
McDonnell used his appearance on the BBC’s Question Time in September to talk about his 2003 speech hailing IRA’s “bombs and bullets and sacrifice”.
McDonnell apologised “from the bottom of my heart” for suggesting in 2003 that the IRA should be honoured for the bombings which brought the British government “to the negotiating table” during the Northern Ireland peace process.
McDonnell said he rejected all political violence, adding that he had been trying to encourage republican hardliners to support the peace process.
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