Government whipping...

[Gentleman]

Something to do with his relationship with his "friends" may explain the easy ride both he and george recieved about their hobbies.

[David Johnson]

"PM's will generally be able to predict how a vote will go, not down to the exact numbers, but more or less know what will happen. I think Cameron did this knowing he would likely lose but did it to show the UK and the world that he would have been keen to go in to Syria .

I don't think this makes sense for the following reasons:

1. Everything I read suggested that the MPs of all sides were completely gobsmacked by the result of the Commons vote.

2. Given that Cameron had been saying for at least a week to his own and other UK parties as well as world leaders that there had to be a military reaction, why humiliate himself in Parliament if he knew he was likely to lose?

[max_tranmere]

Maybe the press are keeping this one on stand-by for if they need it in the future to beat Cameron with.

[max_tranmere]

Maybe Dave was caught by surprise. I would find it hard to believe any PM would want us to go in to another foreign campaign though following what Iraq did, and is still doing, to Blair. Iraq will hang around Blair's neck until the day he dies.

[Essex Lad]

max_tranmere wrote:

I would find it hard to
> believe any PM would want us to go in to another foreign
> campaign though following what Iraq did, and is still doing, to
> Blair. Iraq will hang around Blair's neck until the day he
> dies.

I don't. I think Cameron was gung-ho to go in, to show that he truly is the heir to Blair.

[beutelwolf]

I don't think this was an issue where the whips could do much. It was not the budget or something of that ilk, it was a matter of going to war, and the memory of Iraq loomed large. If I was an MP and a whip where trying to bully me into supporting a war I would have resorted to abuse if not physical violence.

[max_tranmere]

I believe Blair took us into more wars than any PM in history, Iraq will follow him around like the 'Rivers of blood' thing followed Enoch Powell, or 'Chappaquiddick' followed Ted Kennedy. You could not see the person on TV without thinking that thing about them, it became synonymous with them, and this continues for ever more. The obituaries when they die are led by that thing too. Cameron would be foolish to want Syria to be an equivalent type millstone around his neck for ever more. Maybe he wants that though, from what some have said on here.

[max_tranmere]

The whips are usually very heavy handed, I remember Rupert Allison the Tory MP who crossed the floor of the House and joined the Lib Dems back in the 1990's. The Sunday tabloids were full of stories about apparent dodgy things he did in his private life for weeks after, and many claimed the Tory whips had planted these stories as revenge. They did the same to some of the Maastricht rebels as I touched upon earlier. An MP starts his or her career in the House of Commons knowing full well what the whips are like and knows there will be consequences if they don't conform and/or if they decide to rebel. Whispering campaigns are often started in order to try and ruin someone's reputation and career as a form of revenge aswell if the MP doesn't play ball.