Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith faces backlash after calling for peace talks with murderous Islamic State terrorists in shocking TV gaffe
Struggling candidate to dethrone Jeremy Corbyn said 'all solutions to these crises do come about through dialogue'
LABOUR leadership challenger Owen Smith faced a massive backlash today after he called for peace talks with murderous Islamic State terrorists in shocking TV gaffe.
The struggling candidate trying to dethrone Jeremy Corbyn, told a BBC leadership hustings: “Ultimately all solutions to these crises do come about through dialogue.”
Probed on whether ISIS should be invited to peace talks, he said: “eventually if we are to try and solve this, all of the actors do need to be involved."
Doubling down on his extreme position, Mr Smith said "at the moment, ISIL are clearly not interested in negotiating," but he insisted "at some point, for us to resolve this, we will need to get people round the table.”
Even hard-left Jeremy Corbyn ruled out such talks, suggesting that there should only be "proximity talks" with those involved in Syria.
The Tories have hit back, with one MP saying his suggestion “demonstrates his unfitness for leadership”.
Johnny Mercer, a member of the Defence Select Committee, said: “Everyone knows negotiation is far more desirable than violence in any conflict, but to suggest it in this case, is to entirely misunderstand and fail to grasp the challenge posed by Daesh.
“His desperate attempts to out-Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn have led him to the view that barbaric murderers who behead journalists and lynch homosexuals are now the sort of people that we should negotiate with.”
But Mr Smith's campaign said he was "clear" there shouldn’t be negotiation with the so-called Islamic State, or Daesh as it is also known, "until they renounce violence, cease all acts of terror and commit themselves to a peaceful settlement".
A statement from his campaign said: "Owen's experience of helping to bring about peace in Northern Ireland is that eventually all parties who truly believe in delivering peace have to be around the table.
"In the Middle East at the moment that clearly doesn't include - and may never include - Daesh."
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But he was even attacked by peacenik Mr Corbyn, who had previously referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘friends’, saying ISIS “cannot be part of any negotiation”.
A spokesman for him said: “Jeremy has always argued that there must be a negotiated political solution to the war in Syria and the wider Middle East, and that maintaining lines of communication during conflicts is essential.
“But ISIS cannot be part of those negotiations. Instead, its sources of funding and supplies must be cut off.
“Owen Smith’s comments were hasty and ill-considered.”
Elsewhere in the debate he announced a raft of left-wing announcements - designed to try out flank hardcore socialist Jeremy Corbyn - and pledged to hike taxes.
He promised to put up corporation tax up to 20 per cent, and said he thinks Brexit was a "desperate mistake for our country".
Attacking Mr Corbyn, Mr Smith: “"I'm not a Blairite, I'm not a Tory, I'm a Socialist like you.”
In a tetchy two hour debate live on the BBC, a grumpy Mr Corbyn at one point told his challenger to "be quiet".
In a lighter moment though, hapless lefty Mr Corbyn could not identify Ant and Dec from a picture.
The veteran socialist was challenged during the TV showdown, but could only identify the stars as “the two Geordie TV presenters.”
Meanwhile Owen Smith correctly identified a snap of Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
However both Opposition wannabes could not correctly say how many gold medals Team GB heroes Jason Kenny and Sir Bradley Wiggins had won.