THE vote in the House of Commons on whether to support air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq left me facing a moral dilemma.
In the end I voted in favour of the Government's motion, as I felt it was the least-worst option, but it was a finely balanced decision.
There is no doubt that ISIL are a vile, barbaric death sect who are devoid of compassion.
They shun all the norms of human decency and their claims to be acting in the name of Islam is a loathsome lie.
They are impossible to negotiate with and absolutely must be defeated, both militarily and ideologically.
But the universal consensus about the awfulness of ISIL is not the issue.
The question is about what Britain's role should be, since our previous military incursion into Iraq ended badly.
There is real concern about the potential for "mission creep", given that ISIL operates in Syria as well as Iraq.
Many argue that the rise of ISIL is in part down to the West's earlier military interventions in the Middle East. And people are worried that Britain's involvement could actually buttress support for ISIL.
For all these reasons I was conflicted about what to do.
I knew there was deep unease among many of my constituents about once again committing military force to the Middle East.
With less than an hour to go before the vote on whether to support military intervention, I went to see Ed Miliband in his office to discuss my reservations.
He told me that in exchange for his endorsement, he had insisted that the Government's motion must exclude the use of ground troops or action in Syria. Even then I remained uncertain about which way to vote right up to the end of the debate when the Speaker called the division.
My instincts are in line with Winston Churchill's remark at the height of the 'Cold War' that "it is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war", but ISIL are impervious to negotiation.
The Derby Telegraph poll showing 68 per cent backing military strikes was therefore instrumental in my final decision to join colleagues in the Aye Lobby.
When added to the people who contacted me directly, the number of Derbeians expressing a view showed 293 supporting air strikes with 189 against – that is 61% for 39% against.
Parliament voted on Friday for military action to prevent ISIL massacring Sunni, Shia, Kurdish, Christian, and Yezidi Iraqis civilians and restore Iraq's territorial integrity.
But bombs alone cannot defeat ideas, no matter how regnant those ideas may be.
That is why the Government must also deploy sufficient resources so that communities across the UK can prevent any more young British citizens being seduced by ISIL's abhorrent ideology.
