Hammond rules out air strikes in Syria, two hours late Cameron contradicts him

Yesterday, Philip Hammond Defence Secretary ruled out air strikes in Syria. At a press conference in Berlin, he said: “Let me be clear: Britain will not be taking part in any air strikes in Syria. We have already had that discussion in our parliament last year and we won’t be revisiting that position.”

But a mere two hours later, a spokesperson for David Cameron said exactly the opposite – explaining that the PM hadn’t “ruled anything out”.

In a statement, the Government attempted to explain the differing points of view between Hammond and Cameron: “The point he [Hammond] was making was that last year Parliament expressed its view with regard to taking action with air strikes against the Assad regime. In terms of air power and the like, the Prime Minister has not ruled anything out. That is the position. No decisions have been taken in that regard.”

This lack of cohesion in the Tory camp – particularly over an issue contentious and damaging as air strikes – doesn’t fill you with much confidence over their foreign policy, does it?

But Hammond – supposedly in charge of foreign policy – is the same person who confused Saddam Hussein with Bashar al-Assad, claimed Mali a country where the population is 90% Sunni Muslim – is a majority Christian country and repeatedly confused Liz Kendall with Rachel Reeves, so maybe we shouldn’t be all too surprised by this mix up…