SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax was the only Dorset MP to vote against the government in the Syria vote.

Mr Drax was among 30 Conservative and nine Liberal Democrat MPs who voted against the motion proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron.

West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin voted with the government.

In East Dorset Tobias Ellwood, Conor Burns, Robert Syms and Bob Wilson all voted with David Cameron. Annette Brooke abstained.

The motion proposed a ‘strong humanitarian response’ to the use of chemical weapons which if necessary could require military action which was ‘legal, proportionate and focused’ on saving lives by ‘preventing and deterring further use of Syria’s chemical weapons.’ Speaking after the motion had been defeated Mr Cameron said: “The British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that, and the Government will act accordingly.”

Mr Drax said he believed it was not in the UK’s national interest to get involved in Syria.

He said he believed that dropping missiles would only inflame and exacerbate.

He said: “I don’t see what firing missiles into Syria would do.”

He added: “Bombs don’t solve problems. Boots on the ground is possibly the only realistic solution to relieve a situation like Syria. But that isn’t going to happen.”

Mr Drax added that the UN had not finished their current investigation.

He said he supported humanitarian support and aid.

Mr Letwin said that the world would be a less safe place to live if the use of chemical weapons went unchallenged, but he said he recognised the will of Parliament.

He said: “Personally, I believe that it would have been right for Britain to participate in this limited intervention.

“Contrary to the impression given in some quarters, we remain one of the very few countries with a military capacity to engage in an intervention of this kind and, if the large-scale use of chemical weapons goes unchallenged, our world will ultimately be a less safe and a less decent place in which to live.”

He added: “But I recognise that the will of Parliament – undoubtedly coincident in this case with the current majority view of the British public - must prevail.

“Clearly, given Parliament’s decision on this matter, we will not now be able to take any active part even in a highly-targeted, carefully judged and brief intervention to deter the further use of chemical weapons."