Today’s debate in the House on Britain and international security followed the terrible carnage in Tunisia, Kuwait and France last week. All three acts of terrorism were ISIL inspired and, despite the efforts of more than 60 countries working together in a global coalition, there is little doubt that we are currently on the back foot strategically. North Africa is becoming increasingly dangerous, with Libya a no-go zone, Egypt and Tunisia on high alert and even Morocco issuing warnings. ISIL is currently making a nonsense of coalition bombing raids over Iraq by scuttling back to strongholds in Syria, like Raq’aa, where British bombers may not venture. Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence, today made it clear that the government believes that observing these geographical lines in the sand is pointless and that we should be able to pursue these murderous ideologues back to their dens. It seems likely that a vote to allow our forces to attack targets in Syria may be on the cards in September. I voted against military intervention in Syria in 2011. I believed then, and still do, that Syria was a sovereign nation and that you can’t bomb countries into peace, however brutal their leaders. The current state of Libya and Iraq both prove my point. It’s important to emphasise that the action now proposed is to interdict the extremists threatening Syria’s legitimate, if bloody, government, and indeed the entire Middle East.