What I think should be kept in mind is that at the time this bargain was made a real and very Pressing Crisis had arisen.

What unfolds in the Lebanon this summer will, despite the fact that Parliament is formally in recess, engage the attention of many of us, and I hope that if there is a very Pressing Crisis it may be possible to recall the House for a full debate.

William Dalrymple put it this way: "The most Pressing Crisis now facing Pakistan comes in the shape of the country's many armed and dangerous jihadi groups.