Nine Tory MPs who did not back Syria strike received Assad's hospitality

MPs speak of their experiences on trips over past 10 years, and decisions to abstain or vote against motion for military action

Rowena Mason, political correspondent

The Guardian, Tuesday 3 September 2013

 

 

"Nine Conservative MPs who did not vote for government plans for launching military action in Syria have received hospitality from the Assad regime over the last 10 years, it has emerged.

They include Sir Richard Shepherd, Crispin Blunt, and David TC Davies, who all voted against the motion for military action. Tim Loughton, a former children's minister, abstained by walking through both lobbies.
Of the others, David Ruffley, Andrew Tyrie, and Andrew Rosindell, did not vote. Alan Duncan, a development minister, did not return from holiday to vote.
The ninth MP was Mark Simmonds, a Foreign Office minister, who said he missed the vote because he did not hear the division bell for the second vote last Thursday. He says he would otherwise have voted with the government.
They were among at least 20 British MPs from the Tory and Labour parties who have declared hospitality received from the Syrian government during trips between 2003 and 2009......"