Britain Has No Business in Syria

For beleaguered governments, exotic foreign affairs offer a welcome distraction from the mundane but necessary grind of domestic politics. At home a government may look weak, lacklustre and stagnant. How tempting to cut a dash abroad, to strut and posture on the international podium. The Foreign Office is set up to promote precisely this kind of thing. The very architecture of the place, all Victorian grandeur and imperial flourishes, promotes a heady self-importance.