Though largely unnoticed after the government’s extraordinary defeat last night (as I noted earlier, no prime minister has been defeated on a matter of peace and war since 1782), Ed Miliband suffered his own rebellion over Syria.
There were six Labour MPs who voted against Miliband’s amendment on the grounds that it failed to rule out military action. They were: Ronnie Campbell, Jim Fitzpatrick, Stephen Hepburn, Siân C. James, Grahame M. Morris and Graham Stringer.
A few hours before the vote, Fitzpatrick resigned from his position as shadow transport minister. During the debate he had warned that he had “problems” with the government motion and Labour’s amendment since neither ruled out military action and was “opposed to military intervention in Syria, full stop.”
An interesting hypothetical is how many would have followed him if Miliband had eventually supported military intervention. One party source told me earlier that around five were prepared to do so. But fortunately for Miliband, Cameron’s decision to immediately take military action off the table (he could have offered to work with Labour to secure a majority for Miliband’s amendment) means he’ll never have to find out.
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