Peter Smith @Redpeter99
Dan Hodges has left the Labour Party. In other news, Bernard Matthews has left the RSPCA.
Obama's statement ... has significant implications for the timetable for war ... This opens an intriguing possibility. Could the House of Commons overturn the vote of last week, and back military action after all?
David Cameron said in the dramatic moments after Thursday’s vote that "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." But in fact, that is not what the House of Commons had said. There was a clear majority for leaving the door to military action open, it was just the two parties could not agree on which motion to support. So in a juvenile game of tit-for-tat, they vetoed each other's.
Both motions called for time for further evidence of the regime’s culpability to be established. Both called for time for the UN weapons inspectors to publish their report. And both called for time for the diplomatic route via the UN to be exhausted. Now, as a result of Obama's statement, that time has been made available.
David Cameron should seize this opportunity. He should put out a statement in which he says that, given this new timetable, he intends to wait for the UN to go through its various processes and will then ask the House of Commons to finally give a definitive view on military action. At the same time he should call Ed Miliband's bluff. The Labour leader said the day after the vote: "We must not abandon the Syrian people. I don't think the Government should wash its hands of this issue." David Cameron should put him to the test.
After the UN weapons inspectors have reported, and efforts to obtain agreement via the UN have been vetoed by the Russians, he should ask Ed Miliband to state once and for all whether he is prepared to stand by and let the chemical weapons attack that killed over 1,400 innocent civilians pass unpunished. Or, to put it another way, he should ask Ed Miliband if he is prepared to finally break the habit of a lifetime, make a clear decision, and stick to it.
It would represent a gamble. But after the disaster of the past week, the Prime Minister has very little to lose, and everything to gain. As do the people of Syria. As do we all.
Aye.novoludo
18 minutes ago
And Dan, these articles driven by your Blairite hatred of the Labour Party - they are not very good. Especially when they are supposed to be about Syria.
We got it: like Blair, you are a confused Tory who somehow gets satisfaction from pretending you are really Labour, but then hates with a passion the actual Labour Party, and actual left of centre policies.
Give it a rest Dan, for your own sanity. You've left Labour now, just join the Tories and stop fretting about why Labour isn't a right of centre party.
I'm almost serious in suggesting that a Labour Party member tearing up his membership in disgust for not going to war must be unprecedented in its history.mojojojo wrote:My stepfather left the Labour Party when they gave up on unilateral nuclear disarmament. Hodges goes because they don't want to bomb another country at the drop of a hat. I know whose decision I respect.
Thats a good point. This crisis stems from an arbitary red line that Obama made for himself in the hope that it would never arise. He probably can't see little military sense in it and the US keeping up the asymmetrical war against Islamist insurgents is still his priority.Tubby Isaacs wrote: Isn't it more likely Obama doesn't fancy it, and would happily see this die in Congress?
Dan Hodges is a Blairite cuckoo in the Miliband nest. He has worked for the Labour Party, the GMB trade union and managed numerous independent political campaigns. He writes about Labour with tribal loyalty and without reservation. He is on Twitter at @dpjhodges.
The comments make much more interesting reading, even if some of them are completely hatstand.Tubby Isaacs wrote:And another one for another day.
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