A motion to investigate further claims that former Prime Minister Tony Blair deliberately misled Parliament in order to proceed with involvement in Iraq has been blocked, Wednesday
The motion was headed by Alex Salmond, the Scottish National Party’s Foreign Affairs official and had also received the backing of MP’s from six other parties. It was argued that the Chilcot Report had “provided substantial evidence of misleading information being presented by the then prime minister and others on the development of the then government’s policy towards the invasion of Iraq”.
The Chilcot Report, which was released this year after more than seven years of inquiry, was subject to criticism from Conservative and Liberal Democrats over the timing of the release of its findings, when it was scheduled for release following the 2010 general election.
During his comments to the House, Mr Salmond put forward the argument that “What Iraq demonstrates is that currently at least there are no effective checks and balances in our system,”
“The prime minister had the ability to create the circumstances in which this house followed him into an illegal conflict”, he continued.
However, Labour MPs stridently questioned the motion as an attempt to further exploit internal divisions within the party. Labour MP for Enfield North Joan Ryan argued:
“The tide of populism sweeping the globe has lead many to believe there has been a dramatic shift in the world’s political landscape. But whilst 2016 has undoubtedly been full of surprising events that have disrupted the ‘old world order’, these ’new’ forces of nationalism are not the novelty they seem to be.”
Prominent Labour backbenchers turned out in force to vote down the motion, with Ed Milliband and Hillary Benn in attendance. Earlier in the week, the party and the leadership were divided over whether to impose a three-line whip against the motion. Despite calls from MP’s to do so, the leadership imposed a weaker one-line whip compelling for voting unity against the matter.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a long standing vocal critic of military intervention and a previous spokeperson for ‘Stop The War’ Coalition, was notably absent from the debate citing a “longstanding commitment” within his Islington North Constituency. Similarly, key Corbyn allies within the shadow cabinet Diane Abbott and John McDonnell failed to attend the debate.