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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Trident renewal costs spiral by £6bn, David Cameron's defence review reveals - Politics live

Cameron sets out 10-year defence plan

Afternoon summary

  • The government has revealed that the cost of providing four new submarines for the Trident nuclear programme has jumped by about 20%. The figures were set out in the strategic defence and security review that David Cameron unveiled in a statement to MPs. The Ministry of Defence has avoided providing regular updates on the cost of renewing Trident but the strategy document put the cost of the four submarines at £31bn, up from £25bn nine years ago. The report says: “This will be a 20-year acquisition programme. Our latest estimate is that manufacturing the four successor submarines is likely to cost a total of £31bn (including inflation over the lifetime of the programme).” A passage in the document, and a Number 10 briefing, raised speculation that the government was planning to avoid a vote on Trident renewal in the Commons, but Cameron confirmed in response to questions from MPs that a vote would take place. He also hinted that the vote on extending air strikes against Islamic State to Syria could take place next week. (See 5.06pm.)

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Farron suggests Lib Dems could support air strikes against Isis in Syria

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, has suggested the Lib Dems could support air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. On a visit to Edinburgh he said he was “open minded” about this.

We want to eliminate Isis but we need to understand that there has to be a post-conflict resolution.

I am open-minded, we want to see what Mr Cameron comes back with. In response to a horrific outrage like the one in Paris , or the one in Beirut, we shouldn’t have a hot-headed knee-jerk response.

But neither should you have the kind of hot-headed knee-jerk response that Jeremy Corbyn and Alex Salmond have kind of exemplified, which is ‘you mustn’t do anything, ever’.

I have always said I’m very proud of Charles Kennedy leading the fight against the Iraq war, I’m equally proud of Paddy Ashdown who called for intervention in Kosovo when nobody else was.

A colleague is hoping one day to nominate Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary and the most powerful unelected person in the country, for a prize for sending out Britain’s most boring tweets. Heywood has been showing his form again today, prompted by the defence review.

Updated

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, has put out this statement about the defence review.

Only this government could create a ‘rapid reaction force’ and will take 10 years to react.

The government’s strategic defence and security review (SDSR) has some good points, especially the new maritime patrol boats and extra frigates.

The world is more dangerous and uncertain since the last SDSR and that is why we need more flexible forces and greater coordination with allies in Europe. For all the prime minister’s bluster that piece of the jigsaw is sadly missing.

Cameron has now finished taking questions on his statement. He was on his feet for almost two hours.

Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, has welcomed the results of the defence review.

Here is some industry and union reaction to the defence review.

From Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation

This is a welcome boost for UK defence and redresses some of the capability failings which were ushered in under the 2010 Review. This review opens up further opportunity and UK based companies, particularly small and medium sized enterprises renowned for their innovation, agility and skills, should be encouraged to contribute and deliver the value for money supply chain solutions for which they have an established reputation.

From Gary Smith, the GMB’s acting Scotland secretary

GMB Scotland welcome the commitment in SDSR to multilateralism and the Trident successor programme going ahead as it is crucial to jobs. Tomorrow’s debate in the UK Parliament on Trident successor programme is nothing more than a sideshow given today’s announcements. The Scottish political establishment is indulging themselves around Trident whilst ignoring that the successor programme will benefit Rosyth.

From David Pitchforth, managing director of Boeing Defence UK

Boeing welcomes the insight provided to industry by the SDSR. The Boeing UK team looks forward to continuing to support the UK’s armed forces, as we have done for more than 75 years.

David Cameron’s statement has been going on for almost two hours now. As the Tory MP James Cleverly points out, many Labour MPs have given up on it.

This graphic from the defence review document sets out what are perceived as the threats facing the UK. They are listed in three tiers, based on a combination of “likelihood and impact”. It’s on page 87 of the report (pdf).

Threats to the UK - the three tiers
Threats to the UK - the three tiers Photograph: SDSR

Updated

Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, says that David Cameron’s announcement about up to 10,000 military personnel being able to take to the streets in the event of a terror attack (see 4.19pm) could be an attempt to make up for police cuts

There has been some doubt as to whether the government will hold the vote on extending military action against Isis in Syria next week, or the week after. In the Commons David Cameron implied it would be sooner rather than later. He would make a statement on Thursday, he said. Then he went on:

I don’t want to bounce the house into this. Members of parliament will be able to take it away, consider it over the weekend, and then we go to having a full day’s debate and proper consideration, and a vote. We shouldn’t take too long over it. Every day that we spend is a day that we’re not getting to grips with the [Isis] menace.

Cameron confirms MPs will get a debate on Trident renewal

Brendan O’Hara, the SNP MP, has just asked Cameron to confirm that there will be a vote on Trident renewal. He said journalists were being briefed that such a vote might not happen. See 4.49am.

Cameron said that he was “very keen that we should have a vote”. If he had his way, there would be a vote on “gate, main gate, pre-gate, after-gate”, he said, because his MPs all knew which gate they should be going through.

Updated

Cameron told MPs there would be a vote on Trident renewal at some point. The document just talks about the Commons debating it.

And, in a briefing for journalists this afternoon, the prime minister’s spokeswoman actually suggested there might not be a vote on Trident renewal. She said:

We are committing at this stage to a debate. We are not putting a time on it. We are not ruling out that there will be a vote. We are explicitly committing to a debate.

Updated

Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP MP, says Northern Ireland has lots of loughs and lots of ports. If the government ever needs a new home for Trident, it can go there.

Cameron says he hopes that it will never have to leave Scotland.

Cameron says the new maritime patrol aircraft, the Boeing P-8, is an American aircraft. But it will have a major British component, he says. He says sometimes it is better to buy what is available than to build something new from scratch.

CND has accused the government of losing control of the Trident budget. Kate Hudson, the CND general secretary, has put out this statement.

This is outrageous - the government has completely lost control of the budget.

With the cost of new submarines rising by 60% to £41bn - and in addition to the £142bn in-service costs reported by Crispin Blunt MP last month - Trident replacement could now rise to a staggering £183bn.

In its determination to replace this cold war relic, the government is prepared to keep on spending, even if it’s to the detriment of conventional forces and tackling the real security threats we face, such as terrorism, cyber warfare and climate change.

Labour’s Dennis Skinner asks Cameron if he has an exit strategy for getting out of Syria.

Cameron says his exit strategy would be a government representative of all the Syrian people. He says when that he came to power Britain had been in Afghanistan for nine years, and that he set an exit date.

When David Cameron was criticising Ken Livingstone earlier for attacking Labour colleagues (see 4pm), Angela Eagle gave MPs a helpful reminder what he was talking about.

I thought Cameron was talking about what Livingstone said about Kevan Jones, but Livingstone also described Maria Eagle, Angela’s sister, as “mad”. Presumably that is why Angela was pointing at her.

Jeremy Corbyn has used Twitter to respond to David Cameron response to him.

Cameron's statement - What he said about refocusing the aid budget

And this is what Cameron said about refocusing the aid budget.

Alongside the Strategic Defence and Security Review, I am also publishing our Strategy for Official Development Assistance.

At its heart is a decision to refocus half of DFID’s budget on supporting fragile and broken states and regions in every year of this Parliament. This will help to prevent conflict – and, crucially, to promote the golden thread of conditions that drive prosperity all across the world: the rule of law, good governance and the growth of democracy.

The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund will grow to over £1.3 billion a year by the end of the Parliament and we will also create a new £1.3 billion Prosperity Fund - to drive forward our aim of promoting global prosperity and good governance.

Building on our success in tackling Ebola, we will do more to improve our resilience and our response to crises, identifying £500 million a year as a crisis reserve and investing £1.5 billion over the Parliament in a Global Challenges Research Fund for UK Science to pioneer new ways of tackling global problems like anti-microbial resistance.

We will also invest £1 billion in a new fund for the research and development of products to fight infectious diseases, known as the Ross Fund and £5.8 billion in climate finance to play our part in helping poorer countries switch to greener forms of energy.

Cameron's statement - What he said about boosting counter-terrorism capabilities

This is what Cameron said about expanding counter-terrorism capabalities.

We will make a major additional investment in our world class intelligence agenciesto ensure they have the resources and information they need to detect and foil plots from wherever they emanate in the world.

So as I announced last week, we will invest £2.5 billion and employ over 1,900 additional staff.

We will increase our investment in counter-terrorism police and more than double our spending on aviation security around the world.

And I can tell the House today that we have put in place a significant new contingency plan to deal with major terrorist attacks.

Under this new operation, up to 10,000 military personnel will be available to support the police in dealing with the type of shocking terrorist attack we have seen in Paris.

We will also make a major new investment in a new generation of surveillance drones.

These British-designed unmanned aircraft will fly at the very edge of the earth’s atmosphere and allow us to observe our adversaries for weeks on end providing critical intelligence for our forces.

Cameron's statement - What he said about boosting military capabilities

And here are some key extracts from David Cameron’s statement

On boosting military capabilities

In 2010 we committed to an expeditionary force of 30,000. Today I can tell the House that by 2025 we are increasing that number to 50,000.

And as part of this, we will create two new Strike Brigades, forces of up to 5,000 personnel fully equipped to deploy rapidly and sustain themselves in the field.

We will establish two additional Typhoon squadrons and an additional squadron of F35 Lightning combat aircraft to operate from our new aircraft carriers.

We will maintain our ultimate insurance policy as a nation – our Continuous At Sea Nuclear Deterrent – and replace our four ballistic missile submarines.

We will buy nine new Maritime Patrol Aircraft, based in Scotland, to protect our nuclear deterrent, hunt down hostile submarines and enhance our maritime search and rescue.

And we will buy at least thirteen new frigates and two new offshore patrol vessels.

These will include eight Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates.

We will design and build a new class of light, flexible general purpose frigates.

These will be more affordable than the Type 26, which will allow us to buy more of them for the Royal Navy......so that by the 2030s we can further increase the total number of Royal Navy frigates and destroyers.

Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP, asks Cameron to allow a full day’s debate on Syria before the day when MPs have to vote on the government’s motion.

Cameron says he will consider this. But he is already planning an oral statement on Thursday he says, which will allow MPs to debate the issue. And then any vote will be accompanied by a full day’s debate.

Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, says there was no mention of Scotland in the last defence review.

The last defence review got rid of Nimrod. Unusually, the Ministry of Defence has had no maritime patrol aircraft. It has had to ask fishermen in Scotland to report on sightings of submarines.

He says it is welcome news that maritime patrol aircraft will be based at Lossiemouth in Scotland.

He says Trident is a system that can never be used. And its costs are ballooning.

It is a “super-expensive vanity project that does not deter”. It does not deter against terrorism, cyber attack or conventional attack, he says.

He says in Scotland a majority of parliamentarians and civil society groups are opposed.

David Cameron says, listening to Cameron, you would not guess that Scotland is getting more Typhoons, more maritime patrol aircraft and more ships.

He says the decision to get rid of Nimrod in 2010 was taken on advice.

He says at least three of the new aircraft will be in place by the end of the parliament.

He says a shipbuilding strategy will be published next year. And Scotland will get the change to build more than 13 new ships.

The only thing that would stop Scotland having this ability would be if Scotland were independent.

And he says, on Trident, that the defence review shows that other defence spending is not been squeezed out.

The SNP are opposed to Trident and hence “wholly unsuited to government”, he says.

Cameron is replying to Corbyn.

He says the longer Corbyn’s statement went on, the less he had to say.

He says a few months ago Corbyn questioned the need for any defence spending.

On the police, Cameron says there will be a full statement tomorrow. But Corbyn might want to ask why John McDonnell signed up to a statement to scrap MI5 and disarm the police.

Corbyn thinks the police should not use their arms, says Cameron. McDonnell thinks they should not have any at all.

Cameron says there are not plans to cut pay or increments in the armed forces, or to change the generous pension arrangements they have.

But people serving in the navy or Royal Air Force can see they will be bigger and better equiped.

Corbyn asked why human rights advisers were not in place in British embassy. That’s because it is the job of the ambassador to raise these issues, says Cameron.

He says there are lessons to be learnt from Libya, but he will not apologise for getting rid of Gaddafi.

He says Britain is building a new, multi-purpose frigate that hopefully it will be able to sell abroad.

And he says Ken Livingstone, who is carrying out Labour’s defence review, has no idea about defence, but has an idea about how to attack hard-working Labour frontbenchers.

And Cameron ends with a quote from Corbyn in August. Corbyn said:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every politician around the world instead of taking pride in the size of their armed forces ... took pride in the fact that they don’t have an army?

Cameron says Labour MPs may be alarmed. But they should know what their leader thinks.

Corbyn says government's strategy does not address causes of global conflict

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is responding to Cameron.

Labour supports the need to keep people safe, he says.

He asks for an assurance that police numbers will not be cut.

And he says the government’s analysis does not address the causes of global conflict, including: inequality, poverty, disease, human rights abuse, water and food poverty.

Tory MPs jeer. Corbyn says he does not know why they find food poverty funny.

He says the government should address the causes of low morale in the armed forces.

Will Cameron accept that the tax credit cuts will affect servicemen and women?

And he says there will be large scale cuts to civilian jobs.

Will Cameron revise the review in the light of the Iraq inquiry report?

What is Cameron’s response to reports that all sides in Libya are committing human rights abuses? He says Nick Clegg said last week the government should learn from the mistakes it made in Libya?

Does Cameron think Afghanistan will be able to maintain its own security in the future?

Corbyn says Britain needs strong defence. This also provokes Tory jeering.

He says Labour’s review will consider carefully whether it is right to commit so much of the defence budget to Trident. If not, how can jobs in the defence industry be protected.

Why has the government chosen to replace the Nimrod with a plane with almost no UK content?

Last year workers on the Clyde were told 13 ships would be built there. Now it is only eight.

He says Labour’s review will also look at the case for stopping arms sales to despotic regimes.

Does Cameron agree the cut in the Foreign Office budget is a mistake. The government is sacrificing its place in the world on the altar of asterity.

My colleague Ewen MacAskill was at the Ministry of Defence lock-in about the security reveiw. Here is his story, and here is how it starts.

The cost of providing four new submarines for the Trident nuclear programme has jumped by about 20%, according to the strategic defence and security review presented by David Cameron to parliament.

The Ministry of Defence has avoided providing regular updates on the cost of renewing Trident but the strategy document put the cost of the four submarines at £31bn, up from £25bn nine years ago.

The MoD said the earlier figure should be revised to take account of inflation, although the department was still quoting it as the official cost earlier this year.

The sudden rise will add to the already combustible argument over the UK’s nuclear programme ahead of a Commons vote next year on whether to renew Trident. The first of the submarines is not due to come into service until the early 2030s.

The review said a contingency of £10bn would be set aside, suggesting the MoD fears the costs could rise beyond the £31bn estimate.

The Trident figure was one of the few elements of the strategic defence review that had not been revealed in advance.

As my colleague Dan Sabbagh points out, this did not seem to make it into Cameron’s statement.

Cameron confirms that counter-terrorism spending will be increased.

  • Up to 10,000 military personnel will be available to help the police deal with a terror attack.

Cameron turns to the need for Britain to be able to use force.

On Friday the United Nations security council passed a resolution on Syria.

He says he will come to the Commons on Thursday and explain how attacking Islamic State in Syria could be part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat it.

But today he will talk about defence generally.

  • Size of deployable forces to be increased from 30,000 to 50,000.
  • Two new strike brigades to be created.
  • Nine new maritime patrol aircraft to be bought.
  • At least 13 new frigates to be built, including eight anti-submarine ones.
  • Two off-shore patrol vessels to be built.

Updated

Cameron says in ensuring national security the government will also protect economic security.

Britain relies on global trade, he says. It needs the sea lanes around the world to stay open.

David Cameron's defence review statement

David Cameron says that he is making a statement on the national security strategy and the defence review.

In 2010 the government was ordering defence equipment it could not afford, he says. The black hole in the defence procurement budget was bigger than the annual defence budget.

He says the attacks in Paris show how real the threat facing Britain is.

The world is even more dangerous and uncertain than it was in 2010, he says.

  • Cameron says world more dangerous than in 2010.

Julian Lewis, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, refers to briefing in the Sunday papers and says David Cameron wants MPs to be more like Churchill than Chamberlain. Does Fallon agree that one of Churchill’s strengths was his ability to choose between the lesser of two evils, and to form an alliance with Russia to beat Hitler?

Fallon says that what was important about Churchill was that he would do whatever was necessary to protect the UK.

In the Commons, in response to a question about whether the media should refer to Islamic State by the name Daesh (which is derogatory in Arabic), Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said he recognised that Isis and Isil had become “accepted terms” for the group, the BBC reports. He told MPs:

I myself prefer the term Daesh, because I think it is more accurate, it does not embrace the word Islam. But Isil has become, and Isis has become, accepted terms in the British media, and it may be too late to make that particular change.

Here’s a Guardian video of David Cameron’s visit to RAF Northolt earlier.

David Cameron visiting RAF Northolt.

Defence review - A reading list

David Cameron will be making his Commons statement about the defence review at 3.30pm. Here is some background reading.

Here’s the Guardian’s preview story.

Here’s a 20-page briefing document on the review from the House of Commons library (pdf).

And here’ a report the Commons defence committee recently published identifying potential threats the defence review should address (pdf). Here’s an extract.

We believe that the government’s “tiered” approach to mapping the threat picture—soon to be set out in the National Security Strategy—is flawed in assuming that the probability of potential threats becoming actual ones can reliably be predicted. Greater emphasis should be laid upon military flexibility: the ability of versatile Armed Forces to cope with what cannot reliably be foretold. Consequently, our checklist does not pretend to prioritise the credible potential threats and vulnerabilities we have listed.

In the Commons defence questions is underway at the moment. Maria Eagle, the shadow defence secretary, asked about reports that the defence review will include the announcement that the government is getting new Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. She suggested that this showed the government was wrong to get to scrap the programme to build new Nimrod surveillance aircraft in the 2010 defence review. “One of the most visible signs of the 2010 SDSR was the sight of our Nimrods being cut up into pieces,” she said.

Philip Dunne, the defence procurement minister, said Eagle would have to wait until David Cameron’s statement for the details. But he defended the decision to scrap the Nimrods. He told her:

The prototype aircraft that was produced had more defects than any other previous aircraft in production. We weren’t sure whether that would ever fly. It was the right decision to take at the time. And now is the right time - if the prime minister is about to announce it - to have a replacement capability.

Nimrod aircraft being dismantled in 2011
Nimrod aircraft being dismantled in 2011 Photograph: BBC

The Stop the War Coalition has announced it is organising a protest in London on Saturday about the prospect of Britain bombing Islamic State in Syria. Here’s an extract from its news release.

There is already bombing in Syria, conducted by the US and French forces. Its net effect has not been to weaken ISIS. The cumulative effect of 14 years of western bombing in the region has been to increase the scale and spread of jihadi terrorism.

When Russian bombing of Syria began, nearly two months ago, David Cameron and Barack Obama warned that it would be counter productive, increase the threat of terrorism and create instability in the region.

Exactly the same applies to UK and any other bombing.

Lunchtime summary

  • Cameron has said that the defence review which he will unveil the afternoon will help to enable Britain to “shape” the world. Speaking at RAF Northolt ahead of the statement, he said:

We have now got a stronger economy and we can choose, rightly, to invest more in our national security - more ships, more planes, a bigger navy, a bigger RAF, a better equipped army, better in terms of fighting cyber attacks and fighting terrorism.

Britain is the only major country anywhere in the world that both meets its Nato spending targets and meets its aid commitments.

We are an engaged nation, not for reasons of national vanity but for reasons of clear-eyed self interest. What goes on in the world matters to the United Kingdom and so we should be helping to shape it. And with today’s announcement we can do just that.

  • Around 12,000 Ministry of Defence civilian jobs could go to help fund the military expansion plans set out in the defence review, it is being claimed. This is from Newsnight’s Nick Hopkins.
  • Ed Miliband has used his first Today programme interview since resigning as Labour leader to give his backing to Jeremy Corbyn. He said that Corbyn was capable of being prime minister and that Labour was now capable of becoming a proper “community organisation” because of the new members Corbyn has attracted. See 10.29am.
  • Cameron has said the decision of cinema chains to refuse to show the Church of England’s Lord’s Prayer advert was “ridiculous”. (See 11.40am.) Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, said the decision was “outrageous”. (See 1.21pm.)

Updated

Boris Johnson says Lord's Prayer cinema ad ban is 'outrageous'

Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, has also criticised the decision of cinema chains to refuse to show the Church of England’s Lord’s Prayer advert. He said it was “outrageous” in response to a question during his regular #AskBoris Q&A on Twitter.

Johnson also said the government should limit the number of minicabs on the streets of London.

You can read all the exchanges here. This was the funniest.

The Sun has a fairly incendiary splash today.

Survation carried out the poll for the Sun. But the way it has been presented is highly misleading, and Patrick Brione, Survation’s director of research, has explained why in this blog post.

A clear majority of British Muslims, 71%, say they have “no sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria”. 5% had “a lot of sympathy” and 15% had “some sympathy”. These figures represent a significant drop in sympathy since March, from 8% and 20% respectively. In total 8% fewer Muslims have any sympathy for Muslims leaving for Syria than they did in March. Interestingly, when we polled the remainder of the British population in March, 4% of non-Muslims expressed “a lot of sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria” and 9% expressed “some sympathy”, suggesting that attitudes held by the Muslim and non-Muslim populations are not that different.

Matt Singh has also written about this on his Number Cruncher Politics blog.

This morning Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, was on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. He said that at the moment the SNP was planning to vote against air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) in Syria.

We’ll listen, but as now we’re not convinced. Unless we hear something sensible and coherent from the prime minister, it will be a no.

And he explained why.

We are not convinced that adding to the bombing campaign is the answer. There’s no shortage of people bombing Syria, at the present moment, everyone and their aunty is bombing somebody in Syria ...

We’ve just heard from the prime minister now in Paris. Not a word did the prime minister say about taking the real fight to Daesh [Isis]. That is to say countering the propaganda. This is a death cult, and surely Western values can have more of an influence than the propaganda of a death cult. There has been not a word about intercepting their websites like the activists’ group Anonymous has been doing. There’s not even a word about how to intercept the sources of finance without which Daesh couldn’t function.

And all Cameron’s obsession with being part of the action in the bombing campaign; as the foreign affairs select committee said, it’s not a strategy, it’s a replacement for a strategy, to take the real battle to Daesh.

Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond Photograph: BBC

Momentum tells its supporters to lobby Labour MPs to vote against air strikes against Syria

Momentum, the new organisation set up for Corbyn supporters that is mobilising within the Labour party, is urging its supporters to tell Labour MPs to vote against military action in Syria.

Some Labour MPs have expressed concern, particularly given that the parliamentary Labour party has yet to decide its position on air strikes against Isis in Syria.

This is from Gavin Shuker.

This is from Jamie Reed.

And this is from Michael Dugher, the shadow culture secretary, commenting on a tweet from the Labour peer Michael Cashman.

Cameron says Lord's Prayer cinema ad ban is 'ridiculous'

Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

  • The spokesman said that efforts were underway to introduce a common system of sharing passenger name records between EU member states. Cameron spoke about the importance of this in his statement this morning (see 9.33am).The spokesman said that at the moment EU countries can have specific agreements with other EU countries about sharing this information, but that there is no EU-wide directive. This was changing, he said.

In his Today interview, his first since the general election, Ed Miliband also accepted he had been a failure as party leader.

Well, I failed to win the election, definitely. Look, my mission was to win the general election, to be a one term opposition, I failed to do that. And I said on the day after the election that I took full responsibility for our defeat, and I do.

I also, though, have a view – maybe born of the way I think about politics – that sometimes you don’t succeed but some of the ideas that we put forward about how we have what I call responsible capitalism, how we tackle inequality, how we get this country to work for most people again, I think those issues don’t go away.

And he refused to say whether he thought Jeremy Corbyn would be prime minister.

That’s a matter for the electorate, Jim. I’m not in the predictions game and, if you’ll forgive me, after my experience at the general election, predictions aren’t my thing.

I’m off to the lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.

Here’s the Independent’s Jon Stone on Ed Miliband’s Today interview.

Ed Miliband was much more positive about Jeremy Corbyn than Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, was when she was asked about him on Pienaar’s Politics yesterday. She refused to say she thought he would be a good prime minister. Here’s an extract from the Times’s story about what she said (paywall).

Asked about the suitability of Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell for high office, she told Pienaar’s Politics on Radio 5 Live: “John McDonnell is our shadow chancellor, he’s been doing an extremely good job in bringing together, for example, the council of economic advisers and launching some very important and serious work on the structure of our economy.

“And Jeremy Corbyn has been elected as leader of the Labour party and I, as a member of the Labour party and member of the shadow cabinet . . . work with the people that the members elected.”

Asked again about “high office”, she said: “I work with people that the party gives me to work with. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s one of those questions that you want me to answer in a certain way so that you get a headline out of it and I’m not playing that game.”

Ed Miliband’s comments about Jeremy Corbyn on the Today programme were much more positive about what he was reported to have said yesterday in private about the state of the party.

Miliband says Corbyn a credible PM and says Labour could become real 'community organisation' under his leadership

The last week hasn’t gone particularly well for Jeremy Corbyn, but this morning he got an endorsement from Ed Miliband, his predecessor. Miliband said Corbyn was suited to the office of prime minister.

That is the sort of answer Labour MPs are expected to give (whether they mean it or not). But Miliband did sound genuinely positive about Corbyn in some respects. He also said Corbyn was following the “responsible capitalism” agenda that he set out when he was leader and he welcomed some of the appointments to the party’s new economic advisory committee.

I believe that he wants a fairer country and if you look at some of the people that John McDonnell has brought in – Thomas Picketty, Joseph Stiglitz, international economists - they are the people actually arguing for this big question that our country faces, and this doesn’t go away: we’ve got a country divided, I believe, between the top 1% and everybody else – that is the new inequality.

And Miliband said Labour had a “strength in depth” under Corbyn that it did not have in the last parliament.

I think it has a strength in depth in terms of our membership which we didn’t have before. Jeremy Corbyn has doubled our membership and I’ve seen that myself in my own constituency as a constituency MP – and I think this is quite important. I’m seeking to work out how do we use these new members so that we can do what we didn’t do fully under me, which is to become a community organisation that actually is a presence in communities up and down this country.

Miliband told James Naughtie that he was not going to be “a backseat driver” while Corbyn was in charge. Naughtie told him that, having “crashed the car”, that wouldn’t be appropriate anyway. “Thanks,” said Miliband.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, told the Today programme that he would not put a timetable on when a vote on bombing Islamic State in Syria might be held. Asked about this, he replied:

We’ll see. It depends on MPs and us making our case to MPs.

There are a lot of new MPs and we have to make our case to them – understandably they want to be sure that there is a political track to this as well, that we’re working with everybody in the region to create a more comprehensive, moderate government in Syria that will bring long-term security after the striking has finished.

But we’ll also be setting out the moral case that we have now French aircraft, American aircraft, Australian aircraft coming half way around the globe and we can’t let them take all the burden and indeed all the risk of fighting Isil on our behalf.

In an interview on the Today programme Maria Eagle said it was “conceivable” that Jeremy Corbyn could back air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. Asked specifically about this, she said:

My understanding is he is not a pacifist and that means that it is conceivable.

Labour is deeply split over what to do about Islamic State in Syria. The party will not have to take a decision until the government tables a Commons motion for debate but Jeremy Corbyn, the leader, is opposed to almost all military intervention of this kind and, in a speech on Saturday, he sounded very sceptical about backing air strikes in Syria. But others in the party support David Cameron’s stance.

In an interview this morning Maria Eagle, the shadow defence secretary, said that Labour could in principle support the government, but Cameron would have to persuade MPs he had a proper plan in place. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

As long as MPs can see a plan that’s dealt with across the region, that is supported by all, that will work, that shows what our military input, what impact that will have, then there is a chance we can agree on a proper way forward.

We need to see that the plan that the world comes up with - and there now is a UN resolution that they have to be dealt with - will work and we have to be sure that it will make a positive difference before we are asked which way we are going to vote and before the Labour party will decide how to whip its MPs.

Although Eagle kept open the possibility of Labour backing the government, it seems much more likely that the party will offer its MPs a free vote.

And here is a Guardian video of Cameron and Hollande visiting the scene of the Bataclan attack.

David Cameron and Francois Hollande also visit the scene of the attack at the Bataclan music hall to pay tribute to the victims.

Cameron's statement in Paris - Summary

Here are the main points from David Cameron’s statement following his talks with the French president, Francois Hollande.

  • Cameron said the world was “coming together” to tackle the threat posed by Islamic State (Isis, or Isil).

It is clear that the world is coming together to tackle this evil terrorist threat. That was clear on Friday night when, almost one week after the brutal terrorists murdered people here in Paris and sought to divide us, the world united in New York.

He said Hollande would be having talks later this week with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the American president, Barack Obama, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss action against Isis.

  • He said that it was his “firm conviction” that Britain should be bombing Isis in Syria.

The United Kingdom will do all in our power to support our friend and ally France to defeat this evil death cult.

  • He said he would set out Britain’s “comprehensive strategy for tackling [Isis]” later this week. This is seen as a prelude for the vote on bombing Isis in Syria expected next week.
  • He said that Britain was offering the French the use of its RAF Akrotiri, its base in Cyprus, to help with the bombing raids the French are already mounting against Isis is Syria. He also said Britain would offer additional help with air-to-air refuelling.
  • He said he and Hollande had discussed moves to strengthen border control, checks on passengers and firearms laws in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Today we have agreed to step up our efforts to even further and to work more closely with our European neighbours.

In particular we must do more to tackle the threat of returning foreign fighters. This requires a pan-European effort. We need a stronger external EU border to protect our security more effectively with screening, systematic security checks and greater sharing of data amongst member states.

We must, without further delay, finally agree the rules that will enable us to share passenger name records. It is frankly ridiculous we can get more information from countries outside the EU than we can from each other.

And we must do more to crack down on the trade in illegal firearms to stop them getting into the hands of terrorists who are determined to wreck such miserly with them.

Cameron said the EU justice and home affairs council had already discussed these measures. “Now we have got to turn those words into action. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer,” he said.

  • He praised the French for the “swift and decisive action” they took after the Paris attacks. In particular, he praised the bravery of the French police. “It is absolutely right to take decisive action to stop terrorists when they are threatening the lives of innocent citizens,” he said, in what seemed a sly dig at Jeremy Corbyn.

Updated

Here is President Hollande greeting David Cameron at the Elysee Palace

French President Francois Hollande and David Cameron arriving together at the Elysee Palace
French President Francois Hollande and David Cameron arriving together at the Elysee Palace Photograph: WITT/SIPA/REX Shutterstock

And here is a picture of their meeting.

Francois Hollande and David Cameron have a breakfast meeting at the Elysee Palace
Francois Hollande and David Cameron have a breakfast meeting at the Elysee Palace Photograph: WITT/SIPA/REX Shutterstock

David Cameron has been in Paris this morning for talks with Francois Hollande, the French president, and the two leaders have just finished making statements to the media. They did not take questions.

Cameron announced that Britain was going to let the French use its RAF airbase in Cyprus for to help with the French bombing raids against Islamic State (Isis) in Syria.

He also said that the world was coming together to defeat Isis, and that it was his “firm conviction” that Britain should join France, the US and other countries in launching air strikes against Isis in Syria.

I will post more from what Cameron said shortly.

And defence is going to dominate the day, because later Cameron will be in the Commons making a statement on the defence review.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11am: Number 10 lobby briefing

2.30pm: Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

3.30pm: David Cameron makes a statement in the Commons on the outcome of the strategic defence and security review.

As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow.

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