This is an excellent MUST READ article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph.
via Syria: David Cameron’s fairly honourable defeat – Telegraph.
I agree that David Cameron’s defeat has demonstrated that UK Parliamentary democracy still prevails. Personally, I do not agree that Cameron’s defeat has been “fairly honourable”; sadly, it’s just the latest of many omnishambles, in my view.
Any thoughts?
Related articles
- David Cameron humiliated – the national newspaper reaction to his defeat (theguardian.com)
- Syria defeat: What next for David Cameron? (blogs.spectator.co.uk)
- Syria Commons defeat for David Cameron is humbling for him but wonderful for democracy (mirror.co.uk)
- UK Leader David Cameron Loses Preliminary Vote on Syria in Stunning Defeat for Government (abcnews.go.com)
- US ready to act alone as UK rejects Syria strike (dralfoldman.com)
- Front pages: Cameron suffers shock Syria defeat (itv.com)
- UK Commons Votes No on Syria: Blow to Cameron (themoderatevoice.com)
- Cameron has not made case for fracking, say grassroots activists – Telegraph (dralfoldman.com)
- Dan Hodges Quits Labour Over Syria (order-order.com)
- Cameron is in crisis (autonomousmind.wordpress.com)
Dr Alf poses a very sensible question about the construction put on events by Ambrose Evans -Pritchard in the Daily Telegraph.
“Honourable defeat”?
I think not because the motion before the House of Commons talked about the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.
In all the furore, what seems to have been forgotten is the fact that we still do not know whether it was the Assad regime at all because the intelligence agencies are not prepared to say either way.
Secondly Syria has already been targeted for regime change. This is as per what is already in the public domain on the PNAC website and in the televised interviews with General Wesley Clarke which are on You Tube and which David Cameron who has access to much more detailed security data from MI6 and GCHQ must be aware of.
David Cameron says that he thinks it was on the balance of probabilities and so does John Kerry who alludes to “intelligence” which the Americans supposedly have. We have heard things like this before in Vietnam 50 years ago and in Iraq during the 1990s.
People are slowly but surely wising up and David Cameron,s own MPs and many others were not convinced by his answers. In short, the word of a British Prime Minister is not enough any more, either for MPs or the public who as Nigel Farage says are sick of wars which their children have to fight and die in.
This, while the Government tells them that “We are all in it together”, that the country is bankrupt and that “austerity must continue”, whilst at the same time we hand out billions in foreign aid, cut the armed forces and waste money on an industrial scale.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is wrong, the defeat was as crushing and humiliating as it is possible to be and the words “Downing Street sources” which were once gold plated are now permanently tarnished by these two modern day versions of Tweedledum and Tweedledee-Cameron and Hague.