I DON’T believe that the Syrian government of President Assad used chemical weapons against civilians in a Damascus suburb last week.

Assad’s forces are winning the civil war by conventional means, so why upset the apple cart by committing such an atrocity, thus drawing in retribution from the USA, Britain and France?

The evidence of the attack is from an unreliable source and thus lacks credibility.

However, even if there is conclusive evidence that Assad used chemical weapons Britain should not get involved in Syria.

Firstly, bombing would only make the humanitarian situation worse. Secondly, it could lead to war with Russia; and finally Britain has neither the right, nor the resource to continue to pretend to be policeman of the world.

There was a time when Britain was genuinely a great power, but that is not the case today. Britain does not have the money and more importantly, the industrial infrastructure, to fight a long war.

There are homeless people dying on the streets less than half a mile from the Houses of Parliament and yet political leaders like Boris Johnson are strutting around the world pretending to be Winston Churchill or Lloyd George.

It is a pathetic pretence, and also downright dangerous.

John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland