The parliamentary call to arms over Syria was doomed from the start
What was David Cameron thinking? He put his authority on the line – and he lost it. According to academics, this is the first time since the mid-19th century that a British government has been defeated on a military or defence issue. Cameron may well have aspired to be remembered in the same breath as Palmerston, but surely not in this way.
This was a Maastricht moment – when parliamentary authority is stripped from a government by a ruthless opposition. It may well be a turning point. Major never recovered – will Cameron? Only if he can get to grips with what went so wrong.
