Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/464860
AGRICULTURE EDITION 51 REVIEW OF PARLIAMENT | In 2013, MPs inflicted an unprecedented rebuff on David Cameron, when they defeated a motion paving the way for British military intervention in the Syrian civil war. The lessons of that reverse were clear when the Commons was recalled in September 2014. The motion before MPs authorised airstrikes in Iraq, to protect civilians, but ruled out deploying British troops for ground combat (careful phrasing that did not exclude UK personnel from other roles). This time, MPs approved the motion by a majority of 481. David Cameron told MPs that the UK had to confront the fast-expanding Islamic State – also called ISIL or ISIS. He said ISIL's brutality was 'staggering', with 'beheadings, crucifixions, the gouging out of eyes, the use of rape as a weapon, and the slaughter of children', but it was also backed by billions of dollars from captured oilfields and had seized modern weaponry. Left unchecked, he warned, the West would face a terrorist caliphate with proven determination to attack the UK. And Britain had a clear legal basis for intervention, because it was sending forces in at the invitation of the Iraqi David Cameron wins Commons' support for UK military intervention in Iraq remove MPs just because they disagreed with their views. Labour spokesman Stephen Twigg said the Bill needed strengthening. He thought the trigger of a 21-day suspension was too high, but challenged by Zac Goldsmith he did not say whether Labour would support his 'real recall' amendments, although he warned they could give enormous powers to well-funded campaign groups to pressure MPs. In his speech, Mr Goldsmith said recall had been the one solution promised during the expenses scandal that had really resonated with voters. Once elected, he said, an MP could 'refuse to attend parliament at all, refuse to meet constituents in any context, systematically break each and every promise they made to get voted in, or even disappear off on holiday for five years, and their constituents could do nothing about it. Such a formula is no longer sustainable.' He dismissed the government's proposals as a 'shabby pretence' of a reform. The newly elected UKIP MP Douglas Carswell, who had just fought a by-election after switching from the Conservatives, said the Recall Bill was not worthy of the name because ultimately it would be Westminster grandees, not voters, who would sit in judgement of MPs. In the end, the Bill was given a second reading without a vote. But, a week later, Zac Goldsmith saw his 'real recall' amendments heavily defeated in a Commons vote. In a recall to the Commons in September MPs authorised airstrikes in Iraq to protect civilians