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| Islamic State fight: Cameron says UK will 'play its part' | Islamic State fight: Cameron says UK will 'play its part' |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| David Cameron has said Britain is ready to "play its part" in fighting Islamic State, which he called an "evil against which the whole world must unite". | David Cameron has said Britain is ready to "play its part" in fighting Islamic State, which he called an "evil against which the whole world must unite". |
| Speaking at the United Nations in New York, the UK PM said "past mistakes" must not be an "excuse" for inaction. | Speaking at the United Nations in New York, the UK PM said "past mistakes" must not be an "excuse" for inaction. |
| He spoke as US and Arab jets continued bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, after attacks began on Tuesday. | |
| The UK cabinet will discuss plans for air strikes against IS in Iraq later, with Parliament due to vote on Friday. | The UK cabinet will discuss plans for air strikes against IS in Iraq later, with Parliament due to vote on Friday. |
| In his UN speech, Mr Cameron said the Iraqi government had made a "clear request" for international military assistance against IS, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months. | |
| He said this provided a "clear basis in international law for action". | |
| Analysis | |
| by Nick Bryant, BBC United Nations correspondent | |
| David Cameron's address at the UN felt like a dress rehearsal for the speech he'll deliver in the House of Commons on Friday, and his target audience seemed to be parliamentarians as much as diplomats in the hall. | |
| Other than a few cursory words about Middle East peace, Ukraine and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it was devoted almost exclusively to making the case for British air strikes in Iraq. | |
| Referring to the war there a decade ago, a conflict lodged so firmly in the minds of parliamentarians, he said that past mistakes should not become an "excuse for indifference or inaction". | |
| He was also careful to spell out the legal case for air strikes in Iraq, a touchier issue in Westminster than it is in New York. | |
| Mr Cameron said he did not believe Western countries should send ground troops in to fight, but there was a place for action by armed forces. | |
| As well as air strikes, he said Western forces could equip, train and support those who are "fighting on the front line for their societies and for their countries and for their freedom". | |
| He said IS, also known as Isil and Isis, had killed people of "every faith and none" and had "murderous plans to expand its borders well beyond Iraq and Syria and to carry out terrorist atrocities right across the world". | |
| Mr Cameron said it had recruited fighters from around the world, including 500 from Britain - and one of these "almost certainly" killed the two American journalists and the British aid worker whose beheadings have featured on IS videos posted on the internet. | |
| He said it was "right" to learn lessons from the past - especially from the 2003 invasion of Iraq - but leaders must not be "frozen with fear". | |
| "Isolation and withdrawing from a problem like Isil will only make matters worse," he said. | |
| "We must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference or inaction." |