The farce in Damascus continues. Syria’s new parliament was sworn in today, a rubber-stamp chamber packed with 70 loyalists to the Assad regime. The UK government has already issued a terse statement refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the body.
Whitehall sources tell me this is a deliberate snub, a signal that no amount of cosmetic changes will wash away the blood on Assad’s hands. The move is also a nod to the Americans, who have been pushing a harder line on Syria. But don’t mistake this for a shift in policy.
The UK has no real leverage here. It’s a symbolic gesture, a piece of theatre. The real game is in the UN corridors, where the Russians are blocking every resolution.
Expect more of the same: grand statements, no action. The lobby is buzzing with talk that the Foreign Office is quietly furious at being forced into this position. They wanted to maintain a line of communication.
The PM’s team overruled them. Politics, as always, trumps diplomacy.
