Last nights vote in Parliament was momentous on a number of levels. It has damaged the Government, as much because they failed to understand the mood in their own parties as because they failed to understand the strength of feeling in the opposition. What has not changed overnight is the impact on the ground in cities like Baghdad. There is no more peace in Syria now than there was at 10pm last night when the numerical impact of the defeat was declared to David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Introducing peace into a place of conflict is a complex and painstaking activity. It has nothing to do with firing missiles from a long distance away, or sending in soldiers, even if they are wearing blue helmets, although that may be one of the practical steps along the way. It has nothing to do with creating artificial lines in the sand, whatever their colour. It has a lot to do with showing that every person, every household, every village, every city matters, and that all tribes and races matter equally. The use of chemical weapons should certainly be seen as a trigger for our action, but it is only one of a series of triggers and any action needs to be action that leads to peace and an end of suffering.

The news yesterday was not all taken up with the death and destruction in Syria, or even the conflict in Westminster. There was also items on domestic violence following comments by Sir Hugh Orde and a response from Theresa May. The parallels between the appalling crime of domestic violence and the death and destruction in Syria may be slight but it exists. The power and strength of the (usually) male perpetrator and the sense of dependency by the partner and any children is only part of the symbolism in Syria. As we know there are two perpetrators in Syria, but the victims are very much women and children along with many men whose integrity and resolve is keeping them from joining in the destruction. Domestic Violence is not solved by a call to a helpline, or a visit by a Police Officer and social worker. It is not even resolved by a stay at a refuge, although all of these things will help depending on the circumstances of the family concerned. It depends on a commitment by the whole community responding to need, to provide resources, to show that these actions are no longer acceptable. It may depend on the criminal justice system getting very involved with the family, and probably on the work of social services spending long hours with a family of broken people, helping to put the pieces back together.

Yesterdays debate and the broadcast interviews have unpacked a number of lessons for the Government if it has the ears to hear and the eyes to watch the signs. As Sarah Wollaston pointed out, the West cannot create a false differential between Sarin gas and our own use of white phosphorus in our munitions. As the British Doctor spoke so clearly from the roof of the Syrian hospital, the people she is tending have been waiting for the world to respond for more than 2 years. There was a terrible conflict between the words of Philip Hammond  in the PM programme who told us his constituents were behind the proposed action at 5pm and then during Newsnight when he admitted that the electorate had made it clear they did not want the fight. He showed no acceptance of this in his tone or body language, he doesn’t believe we are right to do so, perhaps resignation is honourable course of action for him as our constitution does not allow us to dismiss him for being unwilling to accept our views. My final reflection is that 10 years after 2003 and the failure to obtain a UN agreement to resolve issues in Iraq, little seems to have changed at the UN. Perhaps the commitment by Parliament to take the UN seriously means that whilst Obama is even now planning to send Syria some unwanted warheads, that our Government could apply its renewed mind to getting agreement in the UN security council over the use of chemical and non-chemical weapons in a nation that has buried 100,000 of its own people. We do at least still have clean hands!