The Times – 28 November 2015

MPs are exhorted to emulate Churchill when deciding on airstrikes in Syria, but how would he have acted in our situation? Faced with the Nazi attack on the USSR in 1941, he immediately backed the USSR – despite Stalin’s murderous record – as the lesser of two great evils.

Airstrikes cannot be decisive except in support of ground forces. The Syrian army can supply such forces, but our government will not cooperate with them. We are told there are 70,000 "moderate" fighters we can assist instead. I have asked for an official breakdown of this highly improbable total.

A Churchillian approach would recognise that, if one side is to lose this civil war, the other side must win. Another "Grand Alliance" should be formed with Russia to crush the common threat, despite the nasty nature of the Syrian regime. Possibly the French will realise this before we do.

Dr JULIAN LEWIS MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA