A free vote on military action in Syria is the least bad option available for everyone

Well, this is another fine mess, isn’t it? Jeremy Corbyn opposes (surprise!) extending the UK’s anti-ISIS mission from Iraq to Syria and this, we are told, is the Labour party’s official position. Nevertheless, Labour MPs will not be whipped whenever the matter is eventually put to a vote in the House of Commons. They will be free to vote as their conscience, and their calculation of the national interest, demands. By virtue of discovering that all his other options were unsustainable, Corbyn has blundered into the only choice that was feasible all along. Truly, another memorable profile in leadership.

Now you may object that the whole rigmarole is unnecessary in the first place since it is only a recent, tricked-up, pseudo-convention that demands this kind of parliamentary authorisation and you would have a point. Nevertheless, again, we are where we are.

And given the shambles currently masquerading as the Labour party you can also see why MPs from other parties are smugly congratulating themselves on not being part of the Labour party.