PARLIAMENT was stirred last week by the news that 'rebel' Conservative MPs had voted against Prime Minster David Cameron in a row over limited military intervention in Syria.

The House of Commons debate saw an approximate 30 Tory MPs vote against the action, with the remaining abstaining from the vote.

Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies was amongst those voting against his political leader.

The MP has defended his decision, stating that there are many reasons to be wary of this "very complicated situation".

"I listened with great care to what the Prime Minister said," said Mr Davies, "and entirely understand his motives for wanting to get involved, however I came to the conclusion that I had to vote against this motion.

"I have several reasons: A limited strike would not be enough to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons, only a much larger military intervention could achieve this. Even if Assad could be persuaded not to use chemical weapons there would be nothing to stop him killing as many if not more using conventional weapons. If we are to prevent this we will need to undertake full scale military action probably involving ground troops.

"If we decided to do this we could easily end up fighting a proxy war with the Russians and Syrians who are supporting Assad.

"If we went ahead anyway and succeeded in removing Assad there is no guarantee that things would improve. Many of the Syrian rebels are linked to Al Qaeda and have themselves perpetrated war crimes. We would be fighting a war to put Al Qaeda backed rebels in charge of a country with chemical weapons.

"Given all the uncertainties I do not think it would be right for Britain, with the US and possibly France to get involved by firing missiles into Syria.

"Furthermore I believe that there is virtually no public support for military action and, as the vote showed, no cross party support.

"I very much hope that the international community can bring forward a solution and if it does so then I would certainly consider supporting a role for Britain in this."