Great speeches like Hilary Benn’s can lead to 'the greatest mistakes', John McDonnell warns

The shadow foreign secretary's speech was applauded by MPs last night

Hilary Benn closes the Syria debate for Labour (Getty/AFP)

The shadow chancellor has praised the quality of a pro-war speech by one of his Labour colleagues but warned that good oratory can lead to “the greatest mistakes”.

John McDonnell said Hilary Benn’s closing speech in last night’s debate on military action in Syria but warned of terrible consequences and the loss of innocent lives.

The shadow foreign secretary's address was met with rare applause from MPs of all parties after he put the case for Britain joining in US-led bombing of Isis in the country.

“Across the House, I thought the speeches were excellent, I thought Jeremy was very careful in the way he approached it,” Mr McDonnell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I thought Hilary’s oratory was great. It reminded me of Tony Blair’s speech taking us into the Iraq War.

“I’m always anxious that sometimes the greatest oratory can lead us to the greatest mistakes, as well.”

Mr McDonnell said he wished RAF pilots “safe home” and said he hoped that there would be no loss of innocent life.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (PA)

He also confirmed that he still believed bombing in neighboring Iraq would not help solve the conflict in the Middle East, a position he took when such bombing was launched.

Mr Benn had told a rapt House of Commons that Labour had always been “defined by internationalism”, adding: ”We never have and we never should walk by on the other side of the road“.

"We are here faced by fascists,“ Mr Benn said. ”Not just their calculated brutality but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this Chamber tonight and all of the people that we represent.

"They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt.

"They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt.

“And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated.”

He had been speaking in favour of a government motion to bomb Isis in Syria, despite the majority of Labour MPs, Labour members, the shadow cabinet, and the party's leader Jeremy Corbyn being opposed to the action.

RAF jets struck Isis targets in eastern Syria from an airbase in Cyprus for the first time in the early hours of the morning following MPs’ vote to authorise military action in the country.