War more about US democracy than Syria

Paul Revere, the American patriot, has gone down in history as the man who warned his fellow countrymen at the outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775 that “the British are coming”.

Yesterday, the New Daily News, which boasts of the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the US, had a bold headline taking up most of its front page: “The British aren’t coming!”

US president Barack Obama faces the prospect of acting alone on Syria after British prime minister David Cameron was defeated in the House of Commons on Thursday. Mr Cameron has now ruled out British military involvement in Syria.