My enemy’s enemy: Philip Hammond on Isis and Assad

Philip Hammond made quite clear on the Today programme that this government is ‘utterly opposed’ to everything that Isis stands for: it’s difficult to say anything else when militants who clearly luxuriate in evil have beheaded a journalist who was covering their monstrous deeds. The Foreign Secretary was asked whether this country was prepared to ‘wage war’ on Isis. He dodged saying that the West was waging war, but explained that as Isis was doing this, we have to deal with them on that basis. Here’s his full quote:

‘Oh look, it’s far too late for that debate: we are very clear that we are utterly opposed to the evil ideology of this organisation and the barbaric, cruelty that they have displayed. We are opposed to them with every breath in our body and will continue to oppose them, so any kind of threat that they make that if they oppose them, they’ll come after us, frankly we’re long past that point.