Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Iraq and the wider Middle East

House of Commons debates

Wednesday, 24 January 2007

(Selected extracts)

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Malcolm Rifkind (Kensington & Chelsea, Conservative)

As the disastrous conflict in Iraq has rightly been referred to as Blair's war, will the Foreign Secretary inform the House of Commons of what is so important about the Prime Minister's engagements this afternoon that he cannot be present in the House to take part in the first debate on Iraq in Government time since the war began?

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Alex Salmond (Banff & Buchan, Scottish National Party)

I thank the Foreign Secretary. On 25 October last year, at Prime Minister's questions, the Prime Minister told us that he would be

"happy to debate Iraq at any time."—[ Official Report, 25 October 2006; Vol. 450, c. 1515.]

Why should we believe him nowBritain went to war, and we should not be using it retrospectively to make a case for a failed Government policy.

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Menzies Campbell (Fife North East, Liberal Democrat)

...This is an important debate, far too long delayed, for the House, the public and—perhaps most importantly—for our armed forces. I mean the Foreign Secretary no disrespect when I say that the Prime Minister should have opened the debate on a substantive motion in which he invited the House to pass judgment on the policies of his Government. It is wrong to say that previous Prime Ministers have avoided foreign affairs debates. In September 1990, Margaret Thatcher led the foreign affairs debate following the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein and, towards the end of that period, in February, John Major, who