Last Updated: February 27, 2023, 11:56 IST
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a protest outside the offices of DP World after the company fired hundreds of employees, in London. (Reuters)
Norwich South MP Clive Lewis questioned why the Ministry of Defence was selling used Apache helicopters rather than sending them to Ukraine
The Labour Party in the UK is divided over support for Ukraine as the senior MPs have called on the Defence Ministry to do more to arm Kyiv while putting themselves against former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn had urged the Western countries to stop arming Ukraine arguing that providing weapons will prolong the conflict, The Guardian reported.
However, Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, former territorial army officer and shadow defence secretary under Corbyn, questioned why the Ministry of Defence was selling used Apache helicopters in the market rather than sending them to the Ukrainians “in their hour of need”.
“Given that we have provided export licences for weapons to regimes with poor human rights records, do we not have an obligation to provide Ukraine with the military equipment it needs to defend its democracy?” Lewis questioned.
The UK Defence Equipment Sales Authority placed an advertisement online for Apache AH1 helicopters, which are capable of operating in all weathers, day or night and designed to carry a mix of weapons.
Clive Lewis’ statement comes days after John McDonnell, former shadow chancellor and a close ally of Corbyn, also supported arming Ukraine saying he respected the pacifist position but added that he felt that it would not deliver peace but risk defeat for Kyiv by Putin’s forces.
“What is certain is that a refusal to provide the weapons the Ukrainians need … means that the chances of the Russian invasion succeeding are significantly increased,” McDonnell wrote in an article.
On the other hand, Corbyn had said arming Ukraine would prolong the problem and exaggerate the war.
“Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution; it’s only going to prolong and exaggerate this war. We might be in for years and years of war in Ukraine,” Corbyn said in an interview last August.
“What I find disappointing is that hardly any of the world’s leaders use the word peace; they always use the language of more war, and more bellicose war,” he added.
He further added that the Ukraine war is disastrous for the people of Ukraine, Russia and for the safety of the whole world; therefore there has to be much more effort put into peace.
Earlier this month, Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to the UK and made an appeal for the supply of fighter jets, forcing Rishi Sunak to order a defence ministry review into whether the request could be met.
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