The Monkey Cage has a splendid analysis of David Cameron's "doom" yesterday, which political scientist Stephen Dyson attributes in good part to "the long shadow cast by the dominant figure in modern British politics": former prime minister Tony Blair, of unnostalgic Iraq war fame.
Mr. Blair, it seems, chose an impeccably inopportune time--two days prior to Parliament's vote--to go blathering in the Times that "the forces that made those interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan so difficult are of course the very forces at the heart of the [Syrian] storm today," and, uncontent with editorializing restraint, Blair added, "They have to be defeated ... however long it takes."
Notes Dyson: "These comments reminded British legislators and the public of the Iraq controversies at the worst possible time for the current prime minister."
It difficult to imagine that Blair's words were in any way a deciding factor, but they sure didn't help. And for that, Tony, the British people thank you.