Labour's Corbyn denies pacificism, but says military force has not worked

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn rejected suggestions that he was a pacifist, insisting on Friday that he would approve military action as a last resort.

In a speech to the Chatham House think tank Corbyn, a well known opponent of past military interventions in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he would make the safety of Britain a priority if elected at the June 8 General Election.

“If elected prime minister, I will do everything necessary to protect the safety and security of our people and our country,” he said.

"The ‘bomb first, talk later’ approach to security has failed. To persist with it, as the Conservative government has made clear it is determined to do, is a recipe for increasing not reducing threats and insecurity."

Corbyn also said there would no more "hand holding" with US President Donald Trump - a reference to an embarrassing moment for Prime Minister Theresa May when the American leader took her by the hand during a visit to the White House.

"When Theresa May addressed a Republican Party conference in Philadelphia in January she spoke in alarmist terms about the rise of China and India and of the danger of the West being eclipsed. She said America and Britain had to ‘stand strong’ together and use their military might to protect their interests," he said.

"Britain deserves better than simply outsourcing our country’s security and prosperity to the whims of the Trump White House."

Corbyn insisted that wars that sought regime change in Afghanistan Iraq, Libya, and Syria – and Western interventions in Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen - "have failed in their own terms, and made the world a more dangerous place".

"The fact is that the ‘war on terror’ which has driven these interventions has failed. They have not increased our security at home – just the opposite, and they have caused destabilisation and devastation abroad," he said.

"The best defence for Britain is a government actively engaged in seeking peaceful solutions to the world’s problems."

"But I am not a pacifist. I accept that military action, under international law and as a genuine last resort, is in some circumstances necessary."