Looking through the list of MPs who voted against the Coalition Government on Syria, I found my own MP from Warwick and Leamington, Chris White. He has, of course, rebelled before on HST2, but this is an issue that profoundly affects his constituents. By doing so he may well have any chances of preferment, even as a private parliamentary secretary.
The vote on Syria is significant because I would regard White as a Cameron loyalist. It does reflect the extent to which the Government got itself into a mess on this issue, particularly through a poorly conducted whipping operation and the absence of ministers 'discussing Rwanda'. It will be interesting to see how Chris White explains his actions, not that I think he was wrong to vote the way he did. If you are going to conduct a military action, you need clear objectives and you need to be confident that your action will actually achieve them.
Chris White has explained his vote here: Chris White
