London: Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Friday he was not a pacifist and accepted that military action was sometimes necessary, as he sought to olster his foreign policy credentials ahead of next month's election.
"I will do everything to protect the security and safety of our people and our country ... The best defence for Britain is a government actively engaged in seeking political solutions to the world's problems," he said in a speech in London.
"It doesn't make me a pacifist. I accept that military action, under international law, as a genuine last resort, is in some circumstances necessary."
He criticised the "unilateral wars and interventions" of recent years, saying the "bomb first, talk later" approach had failed and that Britain should not just follow Washington's lead.
"So no more hand-holding with Donald Trump – a Labour government will conduct a robust and independent foreign policy made in Britain," he said, in a dig at May for holding hands with Trump during a visit to Washington earlier this year.
Corbyn said Labour would support the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons but if circumstances were reached where ordering the use of such weapons was an option it would "represent complete and cataclysmic failure".
In a visit to the northeast of England later on Friday, May, whose party has a big lead in opinion polls, will seek the backing of working class communities, saying traditional Labour voters are increasingly "appalled" by what Corbyn believes in.
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