RECENTLY, our attention has been drawn beyond the Forest of Dean and far beyond the borders of our nation, to horrific events and possibilities in Syria.

I share the universal revulsion that has been expressed regarding the use of chemical weapons in that country – and for the on-going violence and bloodshed by other means – and I also share the widespread relief that Britain has stepped back from the brink of joining in a complex war that we cannot control.

As I have watched the BBC News and the debates at Westminster, my sense of horror has grown. My instincts, I believe, are the instincts of most Foresters, but as the recently selected Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party in the Forest of Dean constituency, I am all too aware that I might in future be called upon to vote on your behalf in such a debate – and that electors therefore have a right to know where I stand.

Each situation is different. Kosovo is not Sierra Leone is not Libya. On Syria, both sides of the argument are morally driven, to deter, if we can, a leader that we now see as a ruthless dictator and murderer of innocents, or to attempt to avoid the potential consequences spelled out most clearly in the House of Commons and Lords debates.

MP after MP, peer after peer painted Syria as part of a wider religious conflagration that has been simmering for centuries, something akin to the wars among Christians in Europe in past centuries. Could we really intervene without being judged as taking sides? Could we intervene once without being committed to intervene again, and again, becoming more and more embroiled in an impossible situation?

Is there a real chance that our intervention would even be effective? Senior military figures (and Paddy Ashdown was a notable exception here) were clear in their opposition to our military intervention.

Surely, we must work with the international community in gaining a consensual and consolidated approach to bringing those suspected of atrocities contrary to international law brought to justice and answer these charges at an international court of law.

A hugely significant step in the so called "special relationship" was witnessed with President Obama, following the UK Parliament's stance, and applying the escalation brakes, is testimony that there seems to be some change in the transatlantic political dynamic.

Britain once had an Empire and a declared moral duty to police the world. Whether that was ever valid is the subject of intense historical debate. In any case, the Britain of Empire is long gone, and is not the Britain I seek to represent.

Despite the closeness of the vote in the House of Commons, this for me would have been a simple decision, and I would have opposed the rush to war. I know that not all Foresters will agree with that position, but I hope that all will respect it.

– Steve Parry-Hearn, Forest of Dean.