NORTH East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay voted with the Government in Thursday’s key vote over Syria.

Cambs Times: MP Sir Jim PaiceMP Sir Jim Paice (Image: Archant)

He also voted to reject a Labour amendment which sought more evidence for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat rebels joined with Labour to defeat the government over the motion.

Mr Barclay said after the vote that “no military action could be taken as a result of the vote in Parliament on Thursday - any such action was subject to a second Commons vote.

“The government motion required the government to wait for the UN inspectors to report, and to then put this to a vote of the UN security council, before any second vote in the UK Parliament on whether to take military action.”

MPs rejected the principle of UK military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government by 285 votes to 272. The vote therefore ruled out the possibility of Britain’s armed forces joining any American-led action.

South East Cambridgeshire MP Sir Jim Paice was absent from the vote, however, as he is currently away on business on behalf of the Government in South Africa.

Among the Conservative rebels who voted against David Cameron was South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon.