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Iraq Inquiry

It seems a long time since 15 February 2003. Much has changed for me in that time. I was then not an elected politician—I had not even been elected to Leeds city council, never mind as a Member of Parliament. I was one of the many—perhaps as many as 2 million—who marched on the streets of London in an unprecedented display of public protest that the Government were even considering taking this country into an illegal war. I was joined by my then girlfriend—now my wife, I am happy to say—who was one of the many who were not political people and who had never protested before in their lives. She took to the streets because she was so concerned about what might be done in her name. A lot has changed since then for this House, too. We have had a general election—some Members left and some new faces, including me, joined. We have a new Prime Minister—indeed, a few weeks ago, we thought that we were going to have yet another Prime Minister. But the reality is that, not long after that march in February 2003, this House, which at the time seemed so immune to and out of touch with what the country felt, voted to approve the invasion of Iraq.