ALEX Salmond has attacked the “breathtaking arrogance” of David Cameron after he gave the clearest signal yet that UK forces could be asked to join American air strikes on Daesh extremists in Syria.

Later, the PM also came under fire from a senior figure in his own party, with Defence select committee chair Julian Lewis saying he was making up Syria policy “on the hoof”.

Cameron told US news channel NBC yesterday morning that he wanted Britain to “step up and do more”, if he could secure the approval of “my parliament”.

But Salmond, the SNP foreign affairs spokesperson, hit back, saying the UK Government first had serious questions to answer, in light of news that UK military personnel had already taken part in American air strikes without Parliament’s approval.

Following that disclosure, the SNP tabled an urgent question and a series of written questions at Westminster. Salmond said yesterday that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon must fully address these questions in the Ministerial Statement he is expected to give in the Commons today.

“David Cameron shows breathtaking arrogance on this issue,” said Salmond. “Just two days after revelations that UK military personnel have been involved in air strikes in Syria without the approval of Parliament, he is determined to push for further action without first providing answers to serious questions that must be addressed.

“And the Prime Minister casually refers to requiring the approval of ‘my parliament’ — when a parliament is for the people, and the House of Commons rejected bombing in Syria two years ago.”

Salmond said the case for bombing in Syria had “simply not been made” and the involvement of British service personnel in US air strikes without parliamentary approval “clearly flouts the democratic decision taken by the House of Commons”.

He added: “Michael Fallon led a Commons debate on Syria only this month — before which he briefed the media about the likelihood of the UK bombing in Syria in the future — yet he didn’t say a word about UK military personnel already sent into action.

“The Government’s policy in this matter is entirely unacceptable — effectively overseeing a bombing campaign by stealth — and in his statement Mr Fallon must tell us what he knew, when he knew it, and when he was proposing to tell the country.”

The human rights organisation Reprieve has documents showing that around 20 personnel, including three pilots, were embedded with other coalition nations’ forces, including the US and Canada and that three British pilots took part in air strikes.

Downing Street admitted the Prime Minister had been aware of the action and said up to a dozen pilots had been involved since September. Cameron will use a speech today to set out what aides said would be “significant” elements of the Government’s strategy to combat the threat from fundamentalist terrorism for the next five years.

The decision to invite Labour’s interim leader Harriet Harman to a National Security Council briefing last week was seen as a further step to prepare the ground for a possible parliamentary vote to extend air strikes in the autumn.

Asked directly in his NBC interview if he planned to join the US-led air raids within Syria, Cameron said: “Look, we know that we have to defeat Isil, we have to destroy this caliphate, whether it is in Iraq or in Syria.

“That is a key part of defeating this terrorist scourge that we face.

“I want Britain to do more. I’ll always have to take my parliament with me. We’re talking and discussing at the moment, including with the opposition parties in Britain, what more we can do.

“But be in no doubt, we’re committed to working with you to destroy the caliphate in both countries.”

In his speech, Cameron is expected to renew his focus on “shared values” and deliver an appeal to all faiths to “support the British way of life”. He will dismiss complaints that new duties on schools to prevent radicalisation amount to spying on Muslim pupils as “paranoia in the extreme”. And he will focus his message on convincing those tempted to travel to Syria not to buy in to the supposed “glamour” of fighting for Daesh.

Police and security services believe at least 700 extremists have travelled to fight alongside the Daesh and other fundamentalist groups, with around half thought to have returned to the UK. Among them is former Aberdeen schoolboy turned Daesh recruiter Abdul Rakib Amin, who has appeared in a video with two Welsh jihadists, encouraging others to follow in their footsteps.

Amin was thought to have been killed in a raid by Iraqi forces last year, but it appears he has now resurfaced on social media posting Daesh propaganda.

A growing number of women and girls — 43 in the last year alone — are also thought to have gone to the war-torn nation, suggesting families are fleeing there at a rate of one a week. Most recently police confirmed they were investigating the disappearance of a family of 12 from Luton including four women and three children.

Cameron, who pledged a “full spectrum” response after 30 British tourists were killed by an Daesh gunman in Tunisia last month, pinned some blame for UK citizens being radicalised on sections of society who “quietly condoned” extremist views.

Every aspect of that ideology has to be taken “to pieces”, he will say, according to extracts of his speech released in advance. “We must de-glamorise the extremist cause, especially Isil. This isn’t a pioneering movement, it is vicious, brutal, fundamentally abhorrent.”

The National View: Only by winning the battle of hearts and minds can we defeat Daesh

