MPs’ decision saved thousands of Syrian lives

A FEW weeks ago the British Parliament took a decision for which they were reviled at the time (loss of British prestige, no longer taking part in major international decisions etc) but which seems to have changed international relations and saved thousands of lives.

For over a month beforehand, the US had been itching to bomb Syria’s President Assad, and the use of chemical weapons (we still do not know by whom) apparently gave them the justification they had been seeking.

The British Prime Minister 
said he would back the US 
action, and the French also agreed. All seemed set for a 
major strike against the Assad regime, with or without UN Security Council approval. But then a vote was sought at Westminster merely to confirm British participation, and the Members of Parliament decisively rejected it.

The media thought this a catastrophe (although it almost certainly reflected public opinion) and it seemed that Britain was going to be sidelined (“jolly good” some of us thought). But then, surprise, surprise, the would-be belligerents all gradually came to agree with the British Parliament; the planned attack was postponed and then quietly abandoned, and the outcome to date appears to be increased harmony between Russia and the US and even the two sides in the Syrian conflict seem to be tired of their civil war, and are showing signs of interest in negotiations. The Westminster vote seems to have been influential in preventing further mayhem and an escalation of the civil war.

So although we rarely feel, let alone say this, for once, “Well done, the British Members of Parliament who voted against the Prime Minister’s proposal!”