“There is now a question mark about what parliament actually will authorise military support for,” Burt said. “There is the Gibraltar and the Falklands – I think we can assume those. I am not sure we can assume anything else. Where does that leave us and our partnerships around the world? We have put ourselves in a constitutional mess this way.”
I care little for whether this is a constitutional mess or not. For once in its sorry life, parliament listened to the mood of the country – and that mood has no stomach for poking about in other people’s civil wars – and quite rightly. It is and was none of our concern. A tragedy, yes; our business, no. Absolutely not and we had no place whatsoever even contemplating military action just as we had no business interfering in Afghanistan or Iraq – or, for that matter, Libya. The Falklands and Gibraltar are under our protection – they are a part of Britain’s overseas territory. Big bloody difference. Wars in the Middle East are not. So, I don’t care a whit whether ministers are worried about the political fall-out. We should not be sending our troops to risk their lives for anything other than the defence of this nation. That’s it. Anything else is overreach by squalid little politicians seeking to make a name for themselves. Cameron’s humiliation last summer was well deserved. Hopefully, future prime ministers will take note and think twice before embarking on another war.