Crispin Blunt

“In 2013 I voted against military intervention in Syria.”

“The requirement for military force is clear when looking at the first of the nine points agreed in Vienna, which states that 'Syria's unity, independence, territorial integrity and secular character are fundamental.'”

“Failure to find a way to incorporate political Islam in democracy, however uncomfortable its ideology is for secular liberals, will mean we have given them little alternative but to find other means of expression. Inevitably, some of this would be violent.”

“The Conservatives as a Brexit party, being very clear about their objectives are almost certainly going to have to go into some kind of electoral arrangement with the Brexit Party, otherwise Brexit doesn't happen.”

“Disentangling this mess of foreign national interests is a necessary precondition to ensuring that there will be a future for Syria that is Syrian-led and Syrian-owned.”

“Our lack of understanding of the institutional capacity of the country stymied Libya's progress in establishing security on the ground and absorbing financial and other resources from the international community.”

“A national Libyan force needs to be created.”

“Large numbers have been punished on the basis of a broad and vague definition of terrorism and a worryingly low threshold of evidence.”

“The aim has got to be to maximize the opportunities for prisoners, having got themselves clean and got themselves some training, to have the best possible chance of going straight when they come out.”

“In truth the importance of U.K. airstrikes and the U.K.'s eight additional planes is more political than military. It is in honesty a micro military issue. There is no great military necessity for the U.K. to be involved since planes are queuing up from a wide range of countries over the skies of Syria.”

“Is there an alternate role for the U.K. outside the E.U? I think absolutely there is. It shouldn't be something we should be worried about.”

“In view of the mess left behind by the French and ourselves, we cannot simply leave Libya alone.”

“There is a growing body of opinion in support of a royal commission. It's not an issue which will go away, because the global environment is changing around us.”

“The 2013 deal, whereby the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons verified the destruction of 95% of Syria's declared chemical weapons, was negotiated between Russia and the U.S. and either the Russians haven't honored their side of the deal or they have been betrayed by the Syrians.”

“The cyber security strategy for the United Kingdom is a master of the formulaic jargon we have come to associate with the Labour government, and is almost totally devoid of substance.”

“The private sector complains that some of the agencies set up to advise and assist them in protecting their networks, such as CESG, are good at gathering information, but reluctant to disseminate it. This culture of information hoarding has to be changed.”

“Frankly, everyone knows that Iain Duncan Smith is not making the impact we would all like him to be as our leader and is not making the necessary impact to carry credibility with the electorate as the alternative prime minister.”

“European exporters will be paying twice as much duty on stuff they sell to the U.K. because they sell twice as much stuff as we sell to them. We would then have quite a lot of money to support our industries in ways that we choose when we leave the E.U.”

“There may be connections between the nearest prison to Oxford these days, HMP Bullingdon, and other institutions of that name. I have yet to investigate these and, on reflection, probably won't.”

“It is my view there is a gaping hole in parliamentary oversight.”