Jeremy Corbyn gives Ken Livingstone key role over Labour's Trident policy

Jeremy Corbyn ally and fellow anti-Trident campaigner Ken Livingstone has been given a key role over Labour's defence policy. The former Mayor of London revealed on the night of 17 November that he would co-chair the party's defence review with Maria Eagle, who supports renewing the nuclear deterrent.

The move comes after Simon Fletcher, a former aide to Livingstone in City Hall, played a pivotal role in Corbyn's rise to power and has since joined his central team. The appointment also follows the internal Labour row over Corbyn's comments in the wake of the Paris attacks, which left at least 129 people dead.

The Labour leader told the BBC that he was unhappy with the police department's so called shoot-to-kill policy, but Metropolitan Police commander Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe stressed that armed officers had the right to use reasonable force if someone's life was at threat. Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said he supported the shoot-to-kill policy.

Livingstone's appointment is expected to stir controversy among the party. Moderate Labour MP Wes Streeting posted a link to an article that quoted an interview from the left-winger in the wake of the Islamic State (Isis) linked attacks on the French capital.

"I don't think Islamophobia is a major factor in all of this, it's the endless interventions of Britain and America and France in Arab countries that has come back to haunt us," Livingstone told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour. "After the fiasco of Afghanistan and Iraq, Britain and America and France are just not credible in this."

The appointment follows Corbyn's statement to the House of Commons on 17 November that he would support RAF airstrikes on Syria so long as such an intervention was backed by the UN.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron said he would personally build the case for UK airstrikes on IS targets in Syria.