For an innately cautious politician like Theresa May, how she responds to the Syrian crisis could become the British Prime Minister’s defining moment.
Ever since she came to office in the summer of 2016 in the aftermath of the British referendum on membership of the EU, Mrs May has made it her particular speciality to avoid making public her views on major issues.
On the EU, for example, Mrs May’s somewhat Delphic remark, “Brexit means Brexit” aptly illustrates her deliberately vague position on the most important political issue in modern British history. As someone who campaigned to retain EU membership, and now finds herself in charge of a government that is determined to break with Brussels, Mrs May no doubt regards her ambivalence as being vital to her survival in office, especially as she heads a minority government.
But Mrs May’s deliberate opaqueness on this and other pressing issues often makes it difficult to read her preferred direction of travel.
Which is why the Syrian crisis, and the whole debate over Britain’s participation in military action against the Assad regime, has forced Mrs May out of her political comfort zone and compelled her, for once, to provide some decisive leadership.
In fairness to Mrs May, she had already started to adopt a more assertive leadership style after last month’s Salisbury poisoning, when Russian intelligence agents were accused of using a nerve agent to assassinate a defector.
Mrs May’s uncompromising response to the first chemical weapons attack on European soil since the end of the Second World War has won her many plaudits, in particular her remarkable diplomatic achievement in persuading dozens of countries and global institutions to support the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by way of retaliation.
Now we are seeing hints of the same steely resolve in her response to the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus.
Compared with handling the Salisbury attack, responding to international calls to retaliate against the Assad regime is a far more challenging undertaking for Mrs May, not least because it is the first time she has been asked to involve Britain in military action since taking office.
She is not, by temperament, the kind of person who is naturally inclined to assuming a global leadership role. Her preferred modus operandi is working behind the scenes with allies to form a consensus, thereby giving herself political cover if anything goes wrong.
But the Syrian chemical weapons attack means that, on this occasion, she has nowhere to hide.
Having stirred up an international outcry over the use of chemical weapons on the streets of Britain, she can hardly turn her back when they are used in the Damascus suburbs.
Another key factor that has forced Mrs May’s hand with regard to Syria has been the robust response of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was quick to declare his support for military action once it became clear that the Trump administration was preparing for a fresh round of hostilities with the Assad regime.
Mr Macron was reportedly so keen to make his mark with the White House that he even offered to get the French military to undertake the entire military response on behalf of the Americans.
Such grandstanding on the part of the French president will make for uncomfortable reading in Downing Street, which likes to think of itself as being the first port of call for an American president weighing up his response to a global crisis.
But with Britain preparing to leave the EU, Washington can no longer count on London to persuade the Europeans to do the right thing, which has generally been the American approach since the end of the Cold War. So talking to France instead, which, after Britain, has Europe’s largest military capability, makes sense to the Americans.
Allowing France to replace Britain in Washington’s affections, though, is not something any British prime minister wants, and the speed with which Mrs May has thrown away her customary caution and embraced American calls for action against Mr Al Assad therefore needs to be seen in the context of her desire to maintain Britain’s traditional position at the top table of American policy-making.
Mrs May’s support for the Trump administration is not without risk, particularly in Britain where she is likely to experience stiff resistance from opposition MPs in parliament.
Mrs May could find herself in difficulty if, as seems likely, she decides to authorise military action without first receiving parliamentary backing. While she is under no constitutional obligation to allow MPs a vote, in recent years a precedent has been set whereby the Commons voted on whether or not to commit British forces to action.
Parliament was first granted the privilege by Tony Blair in 2003, when he needed political backing for the invasion of Iraq. But in 2013 David Cameron suffered a humiliating defeat when he lost a Commons vote to back military action in Syria.
Donald Trump is unpopular among British MPs and Mrs May will be well aware that – without a majority in Parliament – she could easily suffer the same fate as Mr Cameron if she put the issue of launching air strikes against the Assad regime before the Commons.
But without a Commons vote, she alone will have to take full responsibility for attacking Syria, a burden that could come back to haunt her.
Con Coughlin is the Daily Telegraph’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
ON%20TRACK
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Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
THREE
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UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20specs
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The%20Secret%20Kingdom%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Matt%20Drummond%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlyla%20Browne%2C%20Alice%20Parkinson%2C%20Sam%20Everingham%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
