During an Opposition Day debate, Liberal Democrat MPs support a motion to hold an inquiry into the invasion of Iraq

Opposition MPs last night failed in a bid to force an inquiry into the invasion of Iraq, as Labour backbenchers failed to support the motion.

Britain only invaded Iraq because MPs voted for it. Asked on 18th March 2003 to support Tony Blair’s motion for military action against Iraq, most Labour and Conservative MPs lined up to support the war. The Conservatives even argued that the Government wasn’t being tough enough. Five years on, over 170 British servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. British taxpayers have poured £6.5 billion into the conflict, and the Conservatives are trying to rewrite history by now calling for an inquiry.

The Opposition Day motion (proposed by the Conservatives) called upon “an independent committee of privy councillors to review the way in which the responsibilities of Government were discharged in relation to Iraq.” The Liberal Democrats joined the Conservatives in voting in favour of the motion.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey, spoke in favour of the motion. Mr Davey highlighted the opportunism of the Conservatives and their failure to express regret from those on the front benches at the time and how Labour’s past reasons for not holding an inquiry are destroyed.

On the importance of an inquiry given the magnitude of the war, Mr Davey said:

“One would have thought that an inquiry ought to be automatic when a decision of the magnitude of going to war goes so catastrophically wrong. To put such an inquiry off, even five years afterwards, is nothing short of a scandal. So just as the Liberal Democrats have proposed an inquiry and supported all past calls in the House for an inquiry, we will do so again tonight.”

On the opportunism of the Conservatives in tabling the motion whilst still failing to express regret, Mr Davey said:

“Yet in supporting the Conservative motion, we feel that it is only right to remind the public that the Conservative party still refuses to admit that it made a gross error of judgment on Iraq. If the Conservative party were to admit that tonight, my hunch is that their motion would be more likely to succeed. In past such debates, more than 40 Labour MPs who had voted against the war voted against an inquiry, partly because the Tory position looked so opportunistic. A long overdue expression of regret from those on the Conservative Benches could serve a useful parliamentary purpose and defeat the Government tonight. Judging from the speech of the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague), it seems that they are still believers in the war.”

Mr. Davey highlighting the weaknesses in Labour’s justification for no inquiry:

“The Government position used to be to oppose an inquiry completely, claiming that four inquiries had already been held. When I intervened on the Foreign Secretary tonight, we heard a volte face from the previous Government position. His argument tonight destroyed the argument that they made in the past, which we always thought was threadbare. At least tonight the right hon. Gentleman had the decency to admit the fiction.”

On the scale of failure in Iraq, Mr Davey said:

“Given the scale of the disaster in Iraq, it is perhaps understandable that the Government are reluctant to open their files. There was a chance during the change of Prime Minister to seize the moment, draw a line and have the inquiry, but I am afraid that once again the new Prime Minister ducked that opportunity - as in so many things, he is blowing his chances.

“We owe an inquiry to the people who have died - the 175 British servicemen and women and the 4,000 American troops, and the countless number of Iraqi civilians. Whether that figure is the latest UN estimate of 0.25 million or the higher figures of The Lancet and other surveys, those deaths demand an inquiry, as do the injured, the tortured, the refugees, the internally displaced, the kidnapped, the people whose lives have been ruined - the millions of people affected by the decision to go to war.

“When we begin to count the cost of the war in the lives lost and in the damage to security, stability and the rule of international law, it is, frankly, frightening. That is before we get to the cost to the taxpayer, the cost to our friends and allies in the region - countries such as Turkey, Israel and Jordan - and the cost of making less friendly countries in the region much stronger, such as Iran and Syria, which have been strengthened by the failures in Iraq. Then we should think of the cost to the United Nations and its credibility. How can anyone say that there is no need for an urgent inquiry?”

On the Conservatives’ failing to ask searching questions before a decision to go to war, Mr Davey said:

“So convinced were the Conservatives that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction that they attacked our view that the UN weapons inspectors should be given more time. So convinced were they that the war was right that they failed to join the Liberal Democrats in demanding to know what the exit strategy was and for how long UK troops would be committed. Failing to ask those searching questions before a decision to go to war is a failure to perform the constitutional duty of an Opposition party.”

On the need for an inquiry that is free to question all MPs, Mr Davey said:

“The truth is that the Conservatives at no stage relied on the Government’s dossier of September 2002 to make their case for war. That is why we believe that when the inquiry comes it must be a comprehensive one that will be free to question all Members of this House from whatever party.”

Click here to read Ed Davey’s speech in full

The motion was defeated, with 271 for and 299 against. The Liberal Democrats voted in favour of the motion

Click here for the full text of the motion

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