David Cameron’s ill-advised remark has undermined his whole approach in the Syria debate

The House of Commons is not rising to the occasion today. David Cameron’s opening speech in the Syria today was dominated by repeated interventions demanding that he apologise for talking about ‘terrorist sympathisers’ in the Labour party yesterday. Cameron said that there was ‘honour’ in voting either way in this debate. But he wouldn’t apologise; I suspect because he remembers those murdered by the IRA and what the shadow Chancellor said in the eighties about the ‘ballot, the bullet and the bomb’.

But Cameron’s ill-judged remark last night undercut his whole planned approach today. Cameron wanted to strike a humble, consensual tone; emphasising how the motion had been shaped by concerns raised in the House. Instead, he found himself trying to make his case in a highly partisan atmosphere.

Cameron conceded that not all of the 70,000 fighters he mentioned in his statement last week were ‘ideal’ partners. But he argued that the longer Britain waited to intervene, the fewer potential partners on the ground there would be.