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Opposition day on Monday, 11 June 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Hague of Richmond. The answering member was Baroness Beckett.

Iraq Inquiry

Iraq inquiry. Fourteenth opposition day debate (part 1). Motion negatived on division (253 to 288). Amendment agreed on division (274 to 229).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
461 c532-96 
Session
2006-07
Department
Ministry of Defence
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 461 c550 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must remind the House that Mr. Speaker has placed a 14-minute time limit on Back-Bench spee...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 461 c575 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening with great respect to my hon. Friend’s comments, and I would usually leap with...
Show all contributions (121)
Tony Wright | 461 c574-5 (Link to this contribution) Let me tell the hon. Gentleman exactly what I think, as this is important. This is what my Committee...
Tony Wright | 461 c575 (Link to this contribution) I draw the opposite conclusion. If we want to restore the reputation of this House, we must be able ...
Gerald Howarth | 461 c573 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, but speaking for myself, I never thought that I would ...
Tony Wright | 461 c572-3 (Link to this contribution) I was not blurring the two issues. I was talking precisely about the genesis of the war, which would...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c574 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps some inquiries would best be conducted by Scotland Yard. However, is the hon. Gentleman sayi...
Tony Wright | 461 c573-4 (Link to this contribution) I realise that that is the line that is given—that we were all woefully misled by the Prime Minister...
Lord Maples | 461 c570-1 (Link to this contribution) I do believe that. Certainly we were not able to get to the bottom of the situation. The dossier of ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c570 (Link to this contribution) Is there not an overwhelming sense that the Government’s resistance to an inquiry is conveying to th...
Michael Meacher | 461 c566-7 (Link to this contribution) The second bit of advice is the crucial one. I understand my hon. and learned Friend’s point about t...
Michael Meacher | 461 c566 (Link to this contribution) The whole point of having a committee of inquiry is to examine how sensitive issues of intelligence ...
Adam Holloway | 461 c566 (Link to this contribution) I served as a soldier and a television correspondent during the war-fighting phases of both wars, an...
Michael Meacher | 461 c565-6 (Link to this contribution) I do believe that it is a good starting point. As I said, I am very much in favour of a committee of...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c565 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman feel that the motion before the House is a good starting point for the...
Tony Wright | 461 c571-2 (Link to this contribution) I want to follow the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maples) by saying something about Parlia...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c572 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman is being slightly disingenuous. I did not support the war itself, bu...
Speaker | 461 c564 (Link to this contribution) Order. I can see several Members hoping to catch my eye, but the amount of time left for this debate...
Clare Short | 461 c564 (Link to this contribution) I think that lots of people supported the Prime Minister but now feel that they were deceived by him...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c560 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a valid point. He has made a huge contribution to the inquiry that is taking pl...
David Anderson | 461 c560 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the reasons his inquiry is facing problems is that the voice o...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c562 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady speaks of the importance of an inquiry into the war. The invasion having taken p...
Clare Short | 461 c560-2 (Link to this contribution) I strongly believe that it is essential to establish an independent inquiry into the route to war in...
Clare Short | 461 c562-3 (Link to this contribution) I shall come to that point in a few minutes. The second reason why we need an inquiry is that the o...
Lord Beamish | 461 c564 (Link to this contribution) That makes it wrong now, does it?
Clare Short | 461 c564 (Link to this contribution) I voted on the basis of dishonesty, and of promises from the Prime Minister about the reconstruction...
Michael Meacher | 461 c564-5 (Link to this contribution) I voted for the Iraq war, which I now bitterly regret. I therefore make these remarks much more in a...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c559-60 (Link to this contribution) That is a matter for him; I cannot speak for the Prime Minister. What I have done and will do is pur...
Harry Cohen | 461 c559 (Link to this contribution) I hear what my hon. Friend says about his inquiry. However, he mentioned the Baker-Hamilton inquiry....
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c559 (Link to this contribution) No. I am saying that I made a request to the Prime Minister and that it is currently being considere...
Clare Short | 461 c558 (Link to this contribution) The coalition is incapable of bringing stability to Iraq. That is the crisis and we need to examine ...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c558 (Link to this contribution) The only way we can help the Iraqis at the moment is by bringing stability to the current position—[...
Boris Johnson | 461 c558 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that an inquiry could urgently consider our catastrophic failure befor...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c559 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that the Prime Minister showed greater respect to—and willingness to at...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c559 (Link to this contribution) I have invited the Prime Minister to our inquiry—[Hon. Members: ““Will he come?””] I have been told ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c559 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman believes that the Prime Minister was right to participate in the Baker-Hamilto...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c558 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Lady for that intervention; I am trying to make it clear that our inquiry is ...
Malcolm Rifkind | 461 c553-6 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by referring to an interest, declared in the Register, in a company that operates in Ira...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c556-7 (Link to this contribution) I should like to express my concerns about this issue. I have great regard for the right hon. Member...
Jeremy Corbyn | 461 c550-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a good thing that Parliament is debating the war in Iraq. The war has gone on longer than the ...
Andrew Murrison | 461 c549 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman share my observation, as someone who served in Iraq in 2003, that most servi...
Michael Moore | 461 c549-50 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful point, all the more so because he served in Iraq. The House ough...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c557 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to understand the hon. Gentleman’s argument. We went into Iraq on 20 March 2003 and, fou...
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c557-8 (Link to this contribution) We took action after a vote in this place. We went to war and we are now facing the consequences of ...
Dawn Butler | 461 c557 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a place for an inquiry but this is not the time for it?
Khalid Mahmood | 461 c557 (Link to this contribution) I agree that there is a place for the inquiry that needs to consider the issues that must be dealt w...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c544 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Baroness Beckett | 461 c544-5 (Link to this contribution) No. All our time and energy is badly needed now for addressing the challenges of the present, as th...
Michael Moore | 461 c545-7 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign Secretary’s statement that nothing has changed in the Government’s position since Octobe...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c547-8 (Link to this contribution) I am intrigued as to the Liberal Democrat position. Had Britain not supported the war it is likely t...
Michael Moore | 461 c548-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, which slightly unhelpfully anticipates a point that I s...
Michael Moore | 461 c548 (Link to this contribution) That is a strange hypothetical question.
Michael Moore | 461 c548 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood) may want to reconsider his position, giv...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 461 c548 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman share my incredulous state of mind that the Foreign Secretary should dismiss...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 461 c542 (Link to this contribution) Have the Government received any representations from past or current military commanders that an in...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c542 (Link to this contribution) I am not aware of having received any representations from military commanders either for or against...
John Baron | 461 c543-4 (Link to this contribution) We hope that the inquiry will be wide-ranging, and that it will include an examination of how the in...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c544 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Baroness Beckett | 461 c544 (Link to this contribution) No, I must get on. In the south, we have already been able to hand over responsibility for security...
Lembit Opik | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) I understand the right hon. Lady’s reasoning, although I may differ with her about the case for an i...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) Judging from the range of different statistical methods that people have used, I am not sure whether...
Chris Bryant | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the Foreign Secretary would accept that it is almost certain that when eventually there is...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Those who are approaching the debate with an open mind and a ...
Gordon Prentice | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) Why is it necessary to continue to block the memoirs of Jeremy Greenstock, our man in Baghdad, when ...
Lord Redwood | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Baroness Beckett | 461 c542 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman, and then I must get on.
Lord Redwood | 461 c542 (Link to this contribution) Why is it not possible to accept the proposal in principle, while leaving it to the Government to ch...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c542 (Link to this contribution) That is complete nonsense. As I say, we are being urged now to commit ourselves not only to the prin...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c540-1 (Link to this contribution) I am not implying anything. I am simply saying very clearly and straightforwardly, as I did when thi...
Malcolm Rifkind | 461 c540 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign Secretary says that she is unhappy with the idea of an inquiry while British troops rema...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c539 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c537-9 (Link to this contribution) Let me carry on for a little while. I will come back to the hon. Gentleman later. Secondly, we have...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c537 (Link to this contribution) I am suggesting that when a war has been going on for this length of time, it is entirely valid to c...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 461 c537 (Link to this contribution) The historical precedents that my right hon. Friend has just cited reinforce my position, rather tha...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c535-7 (Link to this contribution) I am putting a date on it. I have not been able to do so yet because I have taken so many interventi...
Tom Levitt | 461 c535 (Link to this contribution) Last October, the right hon. Gentleman said that the inquiry should take place by the end of this pa...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c535 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the arguments for having a Privy Council inquiry. It would have to make its own judgm...
Lord Redwood | 461 c535 (Link to this contribution) Is one of my right hon. Friend’s arguments for having a Privy Council inquiry the fact that much of ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c534 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, but I disagree with it, as I would prefer a Privy Council inq...
Chris Bryant | 461 c534 (Link to this contribution) I believe that there should be an inquiry. It seems to me inevitable that, in the fullness of time, ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c535 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman disappointed that, a minute prior to this debate, the Prime Minister wal...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c533 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not agree, for reasons that I shall give later. Indeed, there are many historical precedent...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 461 c533 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my right hon. Friend agrees that timing is crucial and that we should face up to that. D...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c534 (Link to this contribution) Yes. My hon. Friend makes a fair point. There is no reason for such an inquiry not to consider such ...
Philip Davies | 461 c533-4 (Link to this contribution) Two of my constituents, Sergeant Roberts and Flight Lieutenant Stead, died in Iraq. Sergeant Roberts...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c533 (Link to this contribution) I can partly agree with the hon. Gentleman. I do not propose any narrow or party-based inquiry, but ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c532-3 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House supports the principle that there should be an inquiry by an independ...
Colin Challen | 461 c533 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman accept it from me, as someone who voted against the invasion of Iraq i...
Speaker | 461 c532 (Link to this contribution) We now come to the main business. I inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name ...
Adam Ingram | 461 c587 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should remember from his military training the definition of what constitutes a c...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 461 c587 (Link to this contribution) Given that the Minister makes that point, why did the Prime Minister give evidence to the Baker-Hami...
Richard Younger-Ross | 461 c577 (Link to this contribution) The reasons why we went to war, which the hon. Gentleman referred to in his opening comments, could ...
Adam Price | 461 c578 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes his point very cogently. Iraq cannot wait for us to learn these lessons; we...
Tony Wright | 461 c575 (Link to this contribution) I wish to conclude, if I may. I am weary of all the time being on the side of those who demand inqu...
Adam Price | 461 c575-7 (Link to this contribution) I warmly congratulate those on the official Opposition Front Bench for bringing back to the table th...
Clare Short | 461 c578 (Link to this contribution) That was the point that I wanted to put to the hon. Gentleman. The State Department’s preparation sa...
Adam Price | 461 c578-9 (Link to this contribution) Yes, and of course, we are still struggling to get the al-Maliki Government to reverse the de-Ba’ath...
Eric Joyce | 461 c578 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening very carefully to the hon. Gentleman. If there were a contemporaneous inquiry,...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 461 c579-81 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I shall, indeed, be brief. Of course, there must b...
Speaker | 461 c579 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I remind hon. Members that winding-up speeches start at 7.30 pm? I hope to call someone e...
Gerald Howarth | 461 c581-5 (Link to this contribution) I always like to try to help the hon. and learned Gentleman. My right hon. Friend the Member for Ri...
Adam Ingram | 461 c585-6 (Link to this contribution) In opening the debate, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary set out the reasons why the Govern...
Adam Ingram | 461 c586 (Link to this contribution) Not at the moment. If the motion is passed, regardless of the fact that the Opposition claim that it...
Richard Younger-Ross | 461 c586 (Link to this contribution) The Minister argues that we should not have an inquiry now because that might be difficult in terms ...
Adam Ingram | 461 c586-7 (Link to this contribution) I did not put forward that view just because of what would happen in the media, although I think tha...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c587 (Link to this contribution) On 20 March, I asked a Foreign Minister—the Minister for the Middle East—whether he thought Iraq was...
Lord Beith | 461 c548 (Link to this contribution) What if there had been no war?
Gerald Howarth | 461 c581 (Link to this contribution) Earlier, Mr. Deputy Speaker suggested that there had been a late surge of interest in the debate. Th...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c542-3 (Link to this contribution) No, I must get on. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence would have liked to take...
Lord Maples | 461 c568-70 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher) has posed some of the questions that...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 461 c566 (Link to this contribution) I do not anticipate this point being contentious. Will my right hon. Friend extend his comments abou...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 461 c535 (Link to this contribution) Actually, he has missed a number of debates on Iraq by one minute, because it is his habit to leave ...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c544 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has just given an extremely good example of why it would not exactly promote the ...
Baroness Beckett | 461 c541 (Link to this contribution) I am not responsible for the decisions of the American Government. They decided to allow Mr. Bremer ...
Adam Ingram | 461 c587-9 (Link to this contribution) I honestly think that the hon. Gentleman has not listened to the answers that have already been give...
Adam Price | 461 c578 (Link to this contribution) I can only make my decision based on what serving officers have told me, and they have said that the...
Subjects
Armed forces Deployment Inquiries Intelligence services Iraq Foreign policy Security Military intelligence
Link
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