Blow to Cameron with Commons defeat on Syria
This is a mighty challenge to David Cameron’s authority and a re-writing of the conventions of UK/US joint military action.
US President Barack Obama says his country is considering “narrow action” in Syria, as Secretary of State John Kerry outlines the case for US military intervention.
With David Cameron suffering a humiliating defeat in the Commons after the vote against military intervention in Syria, Channel 4 News looks back at an extraordinary week in politics.
US Secretary of State John Kerry announces that 1,429 people were killed in the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria – a demonstration of the “inconceivable horror of chemical weapons”.
The government’s motion to support military intervention in Syria is defeated by 285 to 272 votes – a seismic moment for David Cameron’s leadership and Britain’s role in the world.
UN special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, talking to Channel 4 News about the possibility of a US strike, says it will be “regrettable” if more bombs are dropped on the Syrian people.
International politics and diplomacy have masked the reality of torture, sexual violence and death for people living amid the carnage of Syria’s civil war.
David Cameron says the UK is still “deeply engaged in the world”, but questions are being raised over the international impact of his defeat in the Commons over Syria.
This is a mighty challenge to David Cameron’s authority and a re-writing of the conventions of UK/US joint military action.
With Iraq, we had the “dodgy dossier”. But with Syria, we have something that does exist: chemical weapons. And the UK Foreign Secretary clearly believes we can now go to war without any dossier at all – dodgy or sound.
President Obama is coming under increasing pressure to recall Congress to debate military action. Americans are following the discussion in parliament here, Jonathan Miller reports from Washington.
Military intervention would be legally justified on humanitarian grounds, even if blocked by the UN security council, according to a summary of the UK government’s legal advice.
The UK will have to make a “judgment call” over military intervention in Syria, David Cameron says as he goes head-to-head with Ed Miliband in the House of Commons.
The Government motion to support military intervention in Syria was defeated by 285 to 272 votes tonight.
The prime minister falls in behind Labour’s suggestion that a final vote on military action against Syria should wait until the UN chemical weapons inspectors report is published.
A Wikileaks disclosure of an email from a military officer reveals why special foreign forces were in Syria in 2011 – and why back then, there was caution about airstrikes.