Theresa May gathered her Cabinet today amid signs she is poised to join military strikes against Syria without calling a Commons vote.
The Prime Minister summoned ministers back to London to seek their support for joining an American-led attack on the Assad regime within days.
Mrs May has insisted the use of chemical weapons must not go unchallenged as calls for reprisals over the atrocity in Douma escalated.
Military chiefs are believed to have ordered British submarines armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles to move within range of Syria.
The premier has been bolstered by Brexit Secretary David Davis.
Despite voting against military action in Syria in 2013, when David Cameron wanted to respond to another chemical weapons outrage, Mr Davis hinted that he was ready to support it this time.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is thought to have been pushing for action against the Syrian regime
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Northern ireland Secretary Karen Bradley attended the Cabinet meeting today
Theresa May, pictured in Birmingham yesterday, is poised to defy calls for a Commons vote on military action in Syria
Attorney General Jeremy Wright (left) and Home Secretary Amber Rudd were also at Downing Street for the meeting today
Asked at a conference in London why he had previously opposed strikes, Mr Davis said: ‘One was because he (Mr Cameron) hadn’t provided the evidence and intelligence that we knew who it was, and secondly because there was not a proper plan which was thought through properly.
‘Those two things I am assured we’re going to answer today.’
But a poll has suggested that the public is far from convinced about the military action – with just 22 per cent saying they are in favour and 43 per cent against.
And Mrs May is facing a mounting clamour from Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition parties to bring the issue before MPs.
No preparations are being made to recall the Commons from its Easter recess, and No 10 believes approval is not needed to launch a one-off, punitive strike.
Donald Trump dramatically escalated the crisis yesterday by telling Russia to ‘get ready’ because ‘nice and new and smart’ cruise missiles would be coming.
He warned Vladimir Putin not to stand by President Assad, whom he described as a ‘gas killing animal’.
But Mr Trump seemed to reel back the rhetoric today, tweeting: ‘Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!’
Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon has said his country is ready to target US planes and ships if they fire at Syrian regime forces.
That would effectively lead to a state of war, according to Sir Richard Barrons, a senior former military commander.
Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems have insisted Mrs May must stage a Commons vote before getting involved in military action – even though as PM she is not obliged to do so in advance.
Some Tories have also urged the premier to put the matter to MPs and warned against reprisals, meaning the government’s slender majority would be at serious risk.
Mr Davis stressed this morning that no final decision had been taken.
‘It is a very, very delicate circumstance, and we’ve got to make this judgment on a very careful, very deliberate, very well thought-through basis, knowing exactly … how strong the evidence is,’ he said.
The U.S. has maintained its threat of rocket attacks in response to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s sickening chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday
General Sir Richard Barrons, a former commander of Joint Forces Command, said Russia’s warnings that launch platforms could be targeted in response to air strikes meant ‘they are going to try and sink ships, sink submarines and shoot aircraft out of the sky – that’s war’
David Davis today suggested he is ready to support reprisals on the Syrian regime, despite voting against them in 2013
British officials have been in in talks with their counterparts in France and the US about which military assets should be deployed for military action.
‘We are committed to deter and prevent the use of chemical weapons,’ said a government source.
‘We now have to establish the best way of getting there, and those conversations are carrying on, officials are speaking to their counterparts in France and America right now. In terms of precisely what happens next, that is still to be confirmed.’
Some senior ministers have privately been urging the PM to act.
Speaking on a visit to Birmingham yesterday, Mrs May said: ‘The continued use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged.’
Asked whether she was concerned by Mr Trump’s tweet, she replied: ‘We are working with our allies, we have been working to get an understanding of what happened on the ground. We are rapidly reaching that understanding. All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible.
‘We will be working with our closest allies on how we can ensure that those who are responsible are held to account and how we can prevent and deter the humanitarian catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future.’
Mr Corbyn raised the spectre of Iraq as he made clear he would not back any kind of military action in Syria. In 2015 he defied much of his own shadow cabinet to vote against aistrikes against Isis in the country.
‘Surely the lessons of Iraq, the lessons that came there from the Chilcot Report, are that there’s got to be, there has to be, a proper process of consultation,’ he said.
‘We elect Parliament, we elect members of Parliament. They should have a voice in this. Cabinet on its own should not be making this decision.
‘The dangers of bombing now, which could escalate the conflict beyond belief. Just imagine the scenario if an American missile shoots down a Russian plane or vice versa. Where do we go from there?’
Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke called for a parliamentary vote on any military action, telling BBC Radio 4’s World at One: ‘In a modern, parliamentary democracy, I think you have got to have parliamentary approval if you have a planned, policy decision to launch a military attack of any significant size.
‘To say that Parliament is just sidelined before you take such a serious decision is a very retrograde step. It makes parliamentary accountability fairly pathetic.’
Julian Lewis, a Tory MP and chair of the Defence Select Committee, insisted there should be a vote before the UK took action.
‘There is a real danger that what starts out as justified punishment for the use of chemical weapons ends up with the Royal Air Force serving as the air arm of the jihadi extremist rebels in Syria,’ he said.
‘It sends a very bad signal to the country that they don’t submit themselves to parliamentary scrutiny before involving in taking military action by choice in the context of a civil war where both sides equally atrocious.’
The poll, conducted on Tuesday and yesterday, underlines the problems faced by Theresa May if she pushes ahead with military strikes
Mrs May has said Britain will co-ordinate its response to the incident in the rebel-held town of Douma – where at least 40 people are reported to have been killed – with the US and France
Tory colleague Bob Seely said: ‘Trump is declaring war on Twitter. Both Trump and Putin need to remember what the stakes are.
‘This crisis could escalate very quickly into a shooting war in Syria. If Russians are injured, the Kremlin will hit back. The most important thing our generation can achieve is to avoid actual conflict with Russia.
‘If we are reckless or thoughtless in our actions, it will make conflict now or in future more likely to happen.’
Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, said any US missiles fired at Syria would be shot down along with the ships or planes that fired them.
He told Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV: ‘If there is a strike by the Americans then … the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired.’
Then, in the early hours of yesterday morning, Mr Trump responded on Twitter, saying: ‘Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it.’
In a further tweet 40 minutes later, he said: ‘Our relationship with Russia is worse now that it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War.
‘There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy.’
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman responded by saying ‘smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not lawful government’.
General Barrons, who led the UK’s joint forces command until 2016, said of the Russian ambassador’s warning: ‘He is saying not only are they going to shoot down the missiles in flight, but by saying launch sites, he is saying they are going to try and sink ships, sink submarines and shoot aircraft out of the sky. That’s war.’
Charles Crawford, former British Ambassador to Bosnia, warned the range of options for dealing with the crisis varied between ‘terrible and catastrophic’.
Don’t attack without a vote, MPs from all parties urge May
MPs from across Parliament last night urged Theresa May to change her mind as she prepared to launch military action against Bashar al-Assad without a Commons vote.
Cabinet sources said there was now a ‘broad view’ in Downing Street that the Prime Minister does not need to seek the approval of MPs before launching strikes.
Some senior Tories yesterday joined Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP in demanding MPs are given a say, as they warned of the dangers of how the crisis could escalate.Since the Iraq War a precedent has been set that all military action abroad is first approved by Parliament, but sources last night told the Mail that no preparations have been made for MPs to return to Westminster before Monday when their Easter recess ends.
When asked if she would recall parliament yesterday, Mrs May declined to answer the question directly. Tory MP Sir David Amess said the Prime Minister needed to come to the Commons before retaliating against Assad following the chemical weapons attack in Syria.
He said: ‘I think we have to look at this situation very, very carefully because since I have been in Parliament we have been involved in conflicts in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Neither with terribly good outcomes.’
The US military appeared to be in position to carry out any attack order this morning with a Navy destroyer – armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles – underway in the eastern Mediterranean
All three of the main opposition parties – Labour, the SNP and Liberal Democrats – yesterday called on Mrs May to hold a Commons vote before embarking on action.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘Parliament should always be given a say on military action. That’s a case that I’ve made going back many, many years in parliament.
‘Listen, what happened last weekend was terrible.
‘What we don’t want is bombardment which leads to escalation and leads to a hot war between Russia and America over the skies of Syria,’ he added.
n Jeremy Corbyn’s brother has claimed the chemical weapons attack in Syria was a hoax. Piers Corbyn retweeted a fake news video from a US conspiracy theory website and tagged his brother in the tweet.
Piers Corbyn tweeted: ‘Video of Syria chemical attack is fake news. Some actors masked, others not in danger zone. Slosh water on children to cry. That’s it!’
The video, on the Infowars website, suggests the attack on Douma was not carried out by the Assad regime and was the work of actors.