In August 2013 a packed House of Commons narrowly voted to block UK military intervention against president Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Three years later, on Tuesday afternoon, the same House of Commons chamber was substantially less busy as some of the same MPs expressed regret and despair at the seemingly inevitable recapture of the whole of Aleppo by the Syrian regime, backed by Russian forces.
While British politics has changed enormously in the intervening years – every major political party has a new leader, the country has voted to leave the EU, and the coalition government has given way to Theresa May's ministry – the war in Syria has rumbled on.
What happened on Tuesday, when parliament approved a token motion noting the situation in the city, is unlikely to change anything for any Syrian on either side of the ongoing civil war. There was no vote called and therefore no way of telling where parliamentary opinion currently lies. But politicians from all political parties lined up to despair at their inability to act on reports coming out of Aleppo, to propose solutions while also admitting they were too late, and to rage at Russia.
Labour MP Alison McGovern, who called the debate, voted against intervention in 2013 and said she would now "live with that for the rest of my life".
Conservative Andrew Mitchell said Russian actions had contributed to the "shredding [of] a rules-based system" that will have "cataclysmic effects on international law", and called for a new vote on military intervention.
Labour's Ben Bradshaw, while issuing dire warnings about the threat posed by Russia, attacked the alliance of "far right and far left" who were celebrating the recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian government. He talked about the rebel forces' defeat in the past tense: "The tragedy tomorrow will be of ours, for
failing to stop this happening and for the consequences."
There were references to claims by the UN human rights office that 82 civilians have been killed during the final push into rebel-held Aleppo. There were calls from the Labour front bench for the government to provide humanitarian aid drops using GPS-guided parachutes into Aleppo. And there was the occasional comment from an MP warning of the high risk that comes with any military intervention, especially in the Middle East.
But mainly there was just despair from politicians who know they are now largely unable to change the outcome of events on the ground.
"One question we need to ask ourselves: In the twilight of our own lives, will we be able to look at ourselves in the mirror in the privacy of our own minds and be able to know we really did all we could?" said Rosena Allin-Khan, as she called for a plan to drop humanitarian aid into the country.
Former chancellor George Osborne, making his first speech from the back benches since 2003, harangued the House of Commons for failing to act earlier: "I think we are deceiving ourselves in this parliament if we believe we have no responsibility for what has happened in Syria."
He questioned whether the UK had any desire to intervene anywhere following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the support for rebels in Libya.
“We are beginning to learn the price of not intervening," said the former chancellor. "We did not intervene in Syria, tens of thousands of people have been killed as a result, millions of refugees have been sent from their homes across the world.”
“So let us have our debate, let us do everything we can to help the civilians of Aleppo, let us hope that the new American administration and the new secretary of state work with the Russians to get the ceasefire.
“Let’s be clear that if you don’t shape the world you will be shaped by it.”
While the MPs debated and wrung their hands, forces continued to advance into Aleppo. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson told MPs the government was doing all it could but it had few options remaining.
"I hope that Russia will see sense and join with us to secure the transition away from Assad, which is the only hope for a peaceful Syria," he said, before confirming the real power lies with Syria and its regional allies rather than the UK or the US.
"It's up to them – it's up to the Russians, it's up to Iran. They have the future of Syria in their hands. This is one of the darkest hours in Aleppo's four millennia of recorded history."