On Thursday 8th October Bob Stewart was interviewed by presenter James Coomarasamy on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World Tonight’. The subject was the dire situation in Syria. This is what he said during that interview:
James Coomarasamy: The Conservative MP Bob Stewart is a member of the Defence Committee and he heard that evidence today. I asked him whether Russia’s intervention in Syria today would make any difference to the Government’s policy.
Bob Stewart: I think what Russia’s intervention does is to concentrate the political mind that we’ve got to find a solution. Clearly President Asad now backed fully by Russia is going to stay in post and despite our efforts to try and move him and get a more amenable kind of regime that’s not going to happen. And I think Russsia’s intervention will confirm that he won’t be leaving in the short term or perhaps in the long term and we’ve got to adjust our policy in consequence.
James Coomarasamy: In what way?
Bob Stewart: Well I think we have probably got to decide what is the greater evil that is emanating out of Syria? Is it ISIL with all its foul deeds or is it President Asad with less foul deeds but nonetheless pretty foul deeds as well? And we’ve got two satans there and I suspect our policy in the end will come round to saying the aim of British Foreign Policy in Syria is to get rid of ISIL. I mean I have never seen the Middle East so mucked up in my lifetime as it is at the moment. But somehow or other someone has got to find a solution. And I think Russia’s intervention will somehow give politics some impetus to get a move on as well as, I’m afraid, we will continue to have military operations and I suspect we will be sending our aircraft into Syria within a few weeks.
James Coomarasamy: What’s your sense of the mood in Parliament? Are there many who share your view?
Bob Stewart: I think so. A lot of people on the Labour side feel like I do but some on the Conservative side disagree with me. I mean the fact of the matter is that it is not an easy fix in Syria. It is so Kafkaesque as to be unbelievable. But one thing is clear, unless it is sorted we are going to continue to have people flooding out of that country in fear of their lives and coming towards Europe. So there is some sort of national interest in sorting it.
James Coomarasamy: Is there a danger though of getting what could become a proxy war with Russia?
Bob Stewart: Yes there is always that danger. Russia considers ISIL to be a huge enemy. You have got to remember that there are a heck of a lot of Russians too fighting with ISIL. We think of British nationals working with ISIL but there are a lot of Russians there as well. So they see ISIL as being a big threat and that’s where our interests coincide. And I just wonder whether that might help us sort out the problem in the longer term if not the shorter term.
James Coomarasamy: The Conservative MP Bob Stewart …