Quotes of the day 2nd September 2013

On the Syrian crisis ...

After the House of Commons vote

"Can the prime minister confirm to the House that he will not use the Royal Prerogative to order the UK to be part of military action, given the will of the House that has been expressed tonight, before there has been another vote in this House of Commons?"

(Opposition leader Ed Miliband)

"I can give that assurance. Let me say the House has not voted for either motion tonight. I strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons but I also believe in respecting the will of this House of Commons."

He added: "It is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that and the government will act accordingly."

(Prime Minister David Cameron)


During the debate

"The Assad regime in Damascus are watching very carefully as to whether they will get away with what they have done"

"If they get away with what they have done, if there is no significant international response of any kind, then we can be absolutely certain that the forces within Damascus will be successful in saying we must continue to use these whenever there is a military rationale for doing so."

(Sir Malcolm Rifkind)

Comments

Jim said…
Politicians are one of the least trusted groups of people. Some polls (Albeit polls are not really fully accurate) state they are less trusted than convicted criminals.
Whilst some politicians may be able to convince other politicians, I really do not see them being able to convince the people this time around.
any future vote would need to be whip free, and would require a seris of constituency meetings where the MP in question is told by the PEOPLE THEY ARE THERE TO REPRESENT, how they are to vote.
9:19 am
Chris Whiteside said…
I don't think there will be another vote anytime soon because I think the leaderships of both government and opposition parties have decided the wisest course of action is to respect the result of the first one.

Particularly as this also reflects public opinion.

I think they are going to be looking for non-military options.
9:56 am
Jim said…
I only hope you are right. Though i am now interested in the vote in the US Congress, I can see, at best, the Americans with bloody noses, and at worst pretty much WW3.
That is of course, if the congress vote goes the way i fear it will.
11:48 am
Jim said…
It also seems your forecast depends on things not "changing significantly"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10281425/Philip-Hammond-MPs-could-vote-again-on-Syria-if-circumstances-change-significantly.html
10:31 am
Chris Whiteside said…
If there was a drastic change in circumstances, who knows what could happen?

But I don't think a change in the situation large enough to make the government want to come back to parliament and try to overturn last week's vote is very likely.
7:33 pm
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