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June 17th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
However, the contentious issue was not high up the agenda at tonight’s dinner.
Talks were instead focused on persuading the Russians to agree to a joint
statement condemning the use of chemical weapons and “going after the
extremists”.
The joint statement would also address the process of transferring power from
Mr Assad to a transitional government ahead of a planned peace summit in
Geneva.
British sources are cautious about the prospect of a deal as the Russians will
not accept that chemical weapons have been used by the regime in Syria.
However, despite the tense talks in Downing Street, Mr Cameron is said to
believe there are mutual areas of broad agreement.
Barack Obama, the American president, also held his first face-to-face meeting
for more than a year with Mr Putin tonight, at which the growing Syrian
crisis was discussed.
The Syrian talks took place over a private dinner in a waterside lodge where
world leaders dined on Kilkeel crab, Kettyle beef and apple crumble with
Bushmills whiskey custard. The private restaurant had its own private bar
serving Guinness and a fireside seating area.
The dinner was held after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that
moderate rebels risked being “exterminated” without foreign assistance.
He refused to rule out arming the Syrian rebels despite a chorus of warnings
from senior Tories, foreign leaders, a former Army chief and church leaders.
Tonight, an opinion poll conducted by ITV News and Comres found the majority
of the British public was against arming the rebels. Fifty-six per cent of
those questioned were concerned about the weapons falling into the hands of
terrorists.
The Foreign Secretary said assisting the rebels would “make sure a democratic,
legitimate opposition is not exterminated”. He said the crisis in Syria is
“the worst human tragedy of our time” that is “on a trajectory to get
worse”.
He spoke out after Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, wrote in The Daily
Telegraph that arming rebels would mean Britain was “pressing weapons
into the hands of maniacs”. When pressed on Mr Johnson’s warning, Mr Hague
said: “We shouldn’t rule any option out because who knows how serious this
crisis will become, how it will develop over the coming months or years.”
He added: “There are no palatable options, I want to be clear with the whole
country about that.”
Mr Cameron has been warned that he could be defeated in the Commons if he
tries to win a parliamentary agreement for Britain to arm the rebels.
The Prime Minister also insisted that no decision had been taken to arm the
rebels, “What we are doing right now is helping the official Syrian
opposition — people who have signed up to democracy and human rights, who
want that sort of future for Syria,” he said. “President Assad wants us to
think that the only alternative to him is extremism and violence. Yet there
are millions of people in Syria who want a peaceful and democratic future.
We should be on their side.”
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