SOMERTON and Frome MP, David Warburton, spoke in the House of Commons last week during the 10 hour debate which led to the UK beginning air strikes in Syria.
David Warburton, an entrepreneur and former music teacher, has been the MP for Frome since May this year, and the first Conservative MP for the area since 1997.
On Wednesday 2nd December he voted in favour of commencing air strikes on Islamic State (ISIL) militants in Syria.
Speaking in the House of Commons last week he said, “Unlike the threat from al-Qaeda, without the occupation of territory, Daesh’s claims to authority are literally baseless. Their notional caliphate has quickly turned from a spiritual aspiration into a geographic reality, and so loosening their grip on that territory is an essential pre-condition of meeting the wider challenge that they pose.
“From reading [the Daesh propaganda sheet, Dabiq], it seems that the short and medium-term foreign policy of Daesh, such as it is, has two distinct aims. The first is to consolidate their holdings in the Levant, which already cover an area larger than the UK.
“The second aim, which is wholly contingent on that, is the spread of Daesh’s contorted version of soft power into western societies where they hope it might calcify into extremism.
“These people are implacably opposed to our way of life in all its aspects. For them, plurality, diversity and individual freedoms indicate weakness rather than strength.
“Furthermore, I do not believe that we should abdicate our moral duty to others. It is not only nonsensical, but counterproductive to join with coalition forces in Iraq and to threaten fewer civilians there because of the Brimstone missile system and then not to do so in Daesh-held territory in Syria, where the French, the coalition and the allies are all asking for help.
“I see no place for any kind of twisted moral relativism whereby the Daesh threat is seen in some way as a consequence of our own foreign policy. In fact, Daesh can only be defeated as a result of our foreign policy—a policy directed at the very caliphate from which they seek to attack us. I am talking about the territory that they have won, that they celebrate and on which they intend to build their movement.
“Of course we all feel the enormous weight of responsibility that is devolved to us today, but our message must continue to be unambiguous that we will not allow terrorists to build a platform from which to attack us, that we will continue to stand up for those universal rights and that we are prepared to meet murderous fanaticism with force.”
The full transcript of David Warburton’s speech can be read online at www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard
