In 2013, after the House of Commons voted against military action in Syria following the regime’s use of chemical weapons, the headline on our editorial read: “Western wobbles over Syria will embolden Putin.”

We do not claim any great prescience. It was apparent at the time that if the Russian-backed government of Bashar al-Assad was allowed to get away with gassing its own citizens it was a sign of the West’s indifference to their use. Politicians would fulminate and condemn but not act. To some extent we are seeing the ramifications of that abdication in Ukraine today.

The cause was a vote in the House of Commons on a motion tabled by the then Prime Minister David Cameron to support what amounted to a US-led punitive raid on Syria for deploying biological weapons. The motion was defeated by 285-272, which meant that Barack Obama had to postpone America’s planned operation. Labour opposed the move, as did 30 Tory MPs and nine Lib Dems who, had they supported the Coalition, or even abstained, would have swung the day.

The vote provoked deep bitterness towards Mr Miliband, although public opinion was substantially on his side. He was accused of opportunism for failing to support the government on a matter of great international significance. The problem was that the well had been poisoned by the invasion of Iraq, from which much of the reluctance to intervene in another Middle East conflict derived.

At the time there were fears the defeat would damage the trans-Atlantic alliance, but the impact was short lived. The real harm was done by the signal it sent to people like Assad and Putin about the West’s resolve. Moreover, the reality that a British government could not take military action without a parliamentary vote was now established.

President Putin watched as Britain retreated from the Syria drama and America wobbled over whether to enforce what it had insisted was a “red line” over the use of chemical weapons. We should remember the dreadful event that led to this. The Syrian regime used toxic gases that reportedly killed 1,400 people, including 426 children, and not only escaped punishment (notwithstanding limited allied air strikes in 2017) but still runs the country.

There are suggestions that Russia may use these appalling weapons in Ukraine. If Putin is merciless enough to do so then those responsible for that vote in 2013 might rue the consequences.