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Iraq (Basra Incident)

I think that the hon. Gentleman seeks to encourage me to give a figure—which, of necessity, would be arbitrary—for a point at which we would automatically change our position. I do not wish to repeat what I have already said in the House: I have made my position as Secretary of State for Defence clear, and it is entirely consistent with the Government’s position and that expressed previously by my right hon. Friend the present Home Secretary when he was in this post. In my view, wherever we come from as regards the endeavour in the first place, we are there now, and we are mandated by the United Nations to carry out a job. That job needs to be done. My objective in this post is to support those whom we have tasked with that job. The issues that the hon. Gentleman raises have been responded to many times from the Dispatch Box, and I can add nothing to the clarity of answer that he has no doubt received in the past.