Gravesham MP Adam Holloway says a missile strike on Syria was not in the interests of the country after joining 30 fellow MPs to defy the government over military intervention.

Mr Holloway, a member of the Commons defence select committee until 2010, said he could not back the government’s motion backing the principle of taking action and the issue needed “serious politics” to address the crisis.

“I just think this idea you can have limited strikes has not been properly thought out. People in my constituency expect the government to put their national security as the number one thing.

"This vague idea of two missiles being thrown into a civil war [to solve the crisis] was not thought through properly. If there was some plan that might make people living in Gravesham safer and would have some impact on mitigating the war, that would be different.”
He added: “If we really are interested in helping the people of Syria, then we need to do some serious politics.”

It should be a matter for the international community to resolve, he said.
However, he stopped short of criticising Prime Minister David Cameron saying that he had done the right thing by accepting the outcome of last week’s vote in Parliament.

He added: “David Cameron is a sincere man who believes in this and I am very disappointed to have played a part in him losing this critical vote but I am pleased that it makes it less likely that we will get involved in a war in Syria.”

Mr Holloway, who is deputy chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council and served in the first Gulf War, was one of three Kent MPs to defy the government. The two others were Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch, and Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson.