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RISING Tory star Esther McVey was the only Merseyside MP to vote in support of the Government's motion authorising the possible use of military force against Syria.
The Liverpool-born Wirral West MP and Minister for Disabled People, who is the county's only sitting Conservative, was one of the 272 ayes who were defeated by just 13 votes (285 nos) in the packed House of Commons last night.
Her Congleton counterpart, Fiona Bruce, was one of the few Tory MPs to vote against the party line.
George Howarth, notes of cautionWith the exception of Lib Dem MP for Southport John Pugh, and St Helens Central Labour MP Shaun Woodward, whose names appear on neither the for or against lists, the remaining Merseyside MPs (all Labour) voted against the motion among 224 Labour MPs, 30 Conservatives, nine Liberal Democrats and others.
They were Joe Benton, Luciana Berger, Angela and Maria Eagle, Louise Ellman, Bill Esterson, Frank Field. George Howarth, Alison McGovern, Steve Rotheram, Stephen Twigg and Dave Watts.
During the lengthy debate, Knowsley MP Mr Howarth addressed the Commons. He said on balance, he believed forces within the Syrian regime were responsible for this week's shocking gas attacks that prompted the call for action, but sounded several notes of caution. He also questioned the “weight of world opinion”.
“It seems to me that whenever there is a crisis of this kind—I have no qualms about saying this—the United Nations fails to live up to its promise," he said.
"What tends to happen is that the United Nations Security Council will pass resolutions—I think it passed 14 on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction before any action was taken—but in the end, whatever the UN does, it tends to fall on the shoulders of coalitions of the willing to enforce its will."
He added: "I am not condemning the United Nations—it is all we have—but we need to have a better way of doing these things in the future. We need to think very carefully as a country about where we fit into each of the coalitions, particularly the one under discussion.”
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Cracking! But has Miliband woken up at last or was he just having a funny turn? It would be nice if he started doing things rather than going along with the right-wing 'concensus' that everyone paid less than a MP deserves to subsist for a short while before dying in poverty.
Esther must have sensed some sort of PR publicity opportunity in this, she's never out of the bloody papers and would attend the opening of an envelope.
Best mates with the editor of the Echo, so that's easy enough to arrange. Otherwise an arselicking opportunist (Esther McVey that is)
McVey was on television the other week in her capacity as Minister for the Repression and Humiliation of Disabled People spouting a lot of unconvincing circular arguments about how cutting their benefits and driving them into debt, despair and suicide 'helps them back to work'.
Labour are dumbasses
"Dumbasses"? Isn't that dum 'n' bass, a type of pop music.
'Labour' is singular so your 'are' ought actually to be an 'is'. It is so sad the way lives have been blighted by Tory cuts to education since 1979.
Cowardice. Its only syrians getting gassed so sod them lets turn a blind eye. what a principled country we have become.
Pls explain why we should be so "principled" that we dash all over the globe sorting out everyone's problems, like the world police?
It shows you lack of understanding on the concept of being principled. If by intervening we could reduce the number of deaths then that would be principled, intervening when it would only increase the number of deaths but would make you look big with the shallow people who want to be a bully is the height of unprincipled action. Doing nothing when they call is "we must do something" when no one can think of any action that would produce positive results is moral cowardice. We should help when we can but that means doing nothing when there is nothing to be done. “Our true nationality is mankind.” ― H.G. Wells
What is principled about being (a) the cowardly lickspittle to the biggest playground bully in the world? Then (b) once the 11th September attacks took place and the angry bully was going to kill someone, anyone, out of a simple-minded reaction for revenge, encouraging the US to settle an old score by destroying Iraq rather than attacking the country of the actual terrorists, i.e. Saudi Arabia?
Saddam Hussein was an enemy of Al-Qaeda and look at the mess the Americans and our government(s) have made of Iraq and Libya with all their gung-ho machismo!
correct I should have said "Doing nothing when the call is "we must do something" when no one can think of any action that would produce positive results is NOT moral cowardice."
Very much looking forward to Esther McVey losing her seat next time
I'd have some fun trying to find it for her
She is shameful