Are targeted drone killings lawful? The jury’s not yet in

So who are they, the urbane, sophisticated sharp-suited types with a licence to kill, drafted in to the front line in the battle against Islamic terror? They are – the government lawyers. The drone killing of Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, far from being a spur-of-the-moment use of pre-emptive force to ward off an imminent attack, was actually weeks in the planning – with lawyers crawling all over it.

But there’s a paradox. If so much thought and work went into the killings, (and the latest US attack on “Jihadi John” – Mohammed Emwazi) how can it be justified as a self-defence response – “instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation”, according to the “Caroline” test legal pundits are talking about? Were the killings an act of “instant and overwhelming necessity” against an “imminent threat” with no other means of defending Britain from them?