Iain Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford & Woodford Green, has voiced his support for Theresa May and the cabinet in their decision to bomb Syria. 

The aim of the “targeted and limited strike”, he said, was to reduce President Assad’s ability to use chemical weapons on his own people, not to get embroiled in the civil war.

He believes when MPs voted against military action in 2013 it was “probably the single most devastating blow to Syria”.

He said: “Parliament did not back the use of military force and I believe that as a result of that decision, not only was an opportunity missed to prevent a subsequent attack using chemical munitions – as we may have recently seen – but also President Assad was emboldened, even encouraged by the lack of military response. 

“The rejection of the motion in 2013 was probably the single most devastating blow to Syria, and it has led to their repeated use.

“At the time, the Russians persuaded President Obama not to pursue the matter by guaranteeing that President Assad would produce no more chemical weapons, and that he would never use such weapons even if he had them. Of course, they have failed completely on that.

“So perhaps they are complicit in the use of chemical weapons; I begin to wonder whether they are, as they have used them so liberally elsewhere, particularly here on our own home soil in Salisbury, with the nerve agent attack.”

Mr Duncan Smith said taking the debate to the United Nations Security Council would have proved “futile” as it is “almost certain” Russia would have used its veto power to block any action.  

On Saturday, the United States, Britain and France fired missiles at Syrian government sites in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack in Douma.

Medics on the ground reported 40 deaths from the attack in the rebel-held town on the outskirts of Damascus.