I cannot think of any circumstances in which a government can go to war without the support of parliament.

The remark asserts a constitutional and democratic principle: that the executive should not commit the country to war without the explicit backing of the elected legislature. In the UK context, it gestures toward the tension between the government’s traditional prerogative powers in foreign affairs and the growing expectation—especially after controversies over military interventions—that Parliament must authorize major uses of force. Read as a normative claim, it frames parliamentary support not as a mere political convenience but as a legitimacy requirement, implying that war demands public accountability, debate, and consent through representatives.