SERIOUS ON SYRIA by The Waugh Zone

* Paul Waugh

by Paul Waugh | Politics

I noted in the WaughZone yesterday that despite David Cameron’s apparently robust language on Wednesday, the PM had left himself wriggle room on refugees with his line that he’d keep the issue ‘under review’.

Never forget that No.10 wants this government to be seen as a ‘One Nation’ government. When George Osborne emerged to attack the criminal traffickers responsible for Aylan Kurdi’s death, he too had a line about reviewing refugee numbers. And last night the PM finally emerged to strengthen up the hints, saying “Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfil our moral responsibilities.” 

We could get the details of the plan as early as today, though officials have been working hard to hammer out numbers, it’s unlikely there will be anything like the 25,000 demanded by David Blunkett on Newsnight.

Some in Government admit they’ve looked flat-footed on the crisis. Boris yesterday preempted the PM when he said: “We should take people fleeing persecution and those plainly in fear for their lives. London will, of course, face up to its moral responsibilities.” The Times reveals that both Justine Greening and Nicky Morgan pushed behind the scenes for more action. “You know you're in the wrong place when the debate is being led by the Labour leadership candidates," a Conservative source told the paper.

The UN’s high commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres this morning stepped up the pressure by calling for a new plan to relocate 200,000 refugees. “"No country can do it alone, and no country can refuse to do its part.”

But as he embarks on his talks in Spain and Portugal today, Cameron is not changing his central argument that the fundamental issue is to sort the problem at source - and that the UK has spent huge sums on camps in neighbouring countries. As the Guardian points out, Downing Street fears a potentially ‘fickle’ outburst of compassion could obscure deeper concerns among the public about immigration. There is a strong feeling among some in Whitehall that Germany has made itself a magnet by announcing a new pull factor of its own: the willingness to help 800,000 refugees. Last night it emerged that even Bayern Munich is setting up a ‘training camp’ for refugees in the city. (The Indy has a story of British football fans demanding the right to fly banners backing refugees here).

Many Tories are wary of the wider issue - not least given what's happening in Hungary - and Sir Malcolm Rifkind was on the Today programme saying he was worried about the message any big increase in refugees would send: ‘If you are in Turkey already, you are out of danger.’

* Refugees resist being stopped from leaving the camp in Hungary.

But Abdullah Kurdi, the father of little Aylan, his brother Galip and husband of wife Rehan, rightly gets much coverage today. He’s told our sister site HuffPost Arabi: “I wish I could transfer my breath to them, to breathe life into their bodies again. We spent a whole hour holding onto the boat. My children were still alive. The first one died because of the raging waves. I had to leave him to save my second son, who also drowned. I turned around to find that their mother had drowned as well. Gathering the costs for fleeing wasn’t easy, and I couldn’t secure the price of the life jackets.”

* Paul Waugh is the Executive Editor, Politics, HuffPost UK.