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[/audioplayer]The House of Commons is off for the summer. But few MPs and ministers expect to make it through to September without the House being recalled because of the grim international situation. This has been the worst year for the West in foreign policy terms since 1979. A terrorist enclave has been established in the heart of the Middle East, Iraq has confirmed its status as an Iranian vassal state, Russia has annexed Crimea with minimal consequences and the West has not even been able to come up with a robust response to Moscow-backed rebels shooting down a civilian airliner in eastern Ukraine.
There will, though, be no desire in No. 10 to make MPs return early. Everyone there remembers how they were summoned last summer — and promptly defeated the government. David Cameron wanted their backing for strikes on Syria to punish the Assad regime for its use of chemical weapons in the civil war. Barack Obama then felt obliged to consult Congress before taking action. Ultimately, the Commons vote resulted in no US-led air strikes.
Whatever one thinks of Parliament’s decision, one can’t dispute that it was significant. MPs had demonstrated that even on matters of war and peace, the traditional preserves of the executive, they were prepared to stand athwart the Prime Minister. The Commons had shown that, contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t just do what the government tells it to.
The vote might have altered the course of western foreign policy but it doesn’t appear to have changed perceptions of Parliament. It is still a much-derided place and MPs are deeply unsure of the worth of what they are doing. ‘This is the most independent-minded Parliament for a century and yet we are still despised,’ laments one senior MP.
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