Thursday 11 September 2014

A delusion of grandeur and global power

On Thursday last week Mr Cameron told the Today Programme he did not need to secure Syria's agreement to bomb ISIL fighters on Syrian territory  because "President Assad has committed war crimes on his own people and is therefore illegitimate." He then extraordinarily added " We would not do anything without moral or legal justification."
To do so without Syrian agreement, or without reference to a UN Security Council Resolution would certainly be illegal, and a declaration of war on Syria, as I am sure Foreign Office lawyers would advise him.
MPs would also surely - and rightly so -  regard it as circumventing the vote  they took in Parliament a year ago.On Friday Mr Cameron told a press conference at the NATO Summit in Newport that  he was  announcing "that the second carrier – HMS Prince of Wales – will also be brought into service. This will ensure that will always have one carrier available, 100% of the time. They are an investment in British security, in British prosperity and our place in the world, transforming our ability to project power globally whether independently or with our allies." (my emphasis)
It is a shear delusion of grandeur that a middle sized nation should attempt to return to imperialist Empire days, and want to "project power globally." 
I feel certain voters can imagine much  higher priorities for sending taxpayers ' money closer to home.