A straw poll of those in support of Syrian bombing

It’s a healthy reminder to be on the streets of Blackburn speaking to young people about Syria.

Blackburn is Jack Straw country, his patch. And Mr Straw (pictured) is one of the key men who took Britain into the notorious Iraq invasion on the back of a dodgy dossier.

On the day that an opinion poll shows three quarters of people don’t support bombing Syria, the phrase people here kept using was “for once” – as in, for once MPs did as we wanted.  For once they said what we say.  Saw it as we see it.

Blackburn saw plenty of demos, as their local MP and the country’s erstwhile foreign secretary Jack Straw dragged the UK to war in Iraq.

But there was no need this time, and in truth we could not find a single person who supported the notion of bombing.

So the feeling here that a much-maligned institution – parliament – has received a small shot in the arm. With that, democracy itself.

Equally – a lot of people here who simply had no idea that there was a war in Iraq and loads of students who had no clue that there had even been a vote in parliament at all.

As ever – instructive to be out of London!

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