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| Iraq |
| Blair wins war backing amid revolt |
| 2003-03-18 |
| Tony Blair has won Commons backing to send UK forces into battle with Saddam Hussein - but also suffered another major backbench rebellion. Amid dramatic scenes in the Commons on Tuesday night, 217 MPs - as many as 139 of them Labour backbenchers - backed a rebel amendment opposing the government's stance on Iraq, with 396 opposing the motion. There was relief for the government after fears that many more of Labour's backbenchers would oppose Tony Blair's line on Iraq. But the revolt among Labour MPs was still up on the last vote according to rebels who said 139 backbenchers had opposed Mr Blair compared to 122 at the last vote. Labour rebel Graham Allen said the rebellion was the largest ever against a government and was a very serious message to the prime minister. But don't forget Tony has one of the largest majorities - he can afford it. But the government immediately rolled out big-hitting ministers to hail victory. Within minutes of the vote being announced, Labour chairman John Reid told BBC News Online: "It is now clear that parliament has voted clearly to support the government in its efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein. Now that the democratic decision has been taken it is time for the country and parliament to unite." And Mr Blair's official spokesman echoed the message, saying: "It is now time for all of us in Parliament and in the country to come together and show the support our Armed Forces deserve." The amendment drawn up by rebel MPs said there is no moral justification for war without a new UN resolution. The vote comes as Mr Blair prepares to send UK forces into battle against Saddam Hussein. It followed eight hours of impassioned debate in the Commons during which the prime minister said Saddam Hussein would be strengthened "beyond measure" if the world fails to make Iraq disarm. In one of the most important speeches of his career, the prime minister urged MPs "to give a lead, to show we will stand up for what we know to be right". Mr Blair said the only people who would suffer if Saddam is not tackled would be the Iraqi people. "Who will celebrate and who will weep if we pull our troops back now?" he said. [...] Mr Blair told MPs that lifting the threat of force would send a dangerous message to other "tyrants" and leave the Iraqi people in "pitiless terror". "I will not be party to such a course," he told MPs. "This is not the time to falter." Some commentators saw his comments as a hint he would quit rather than pull UK forces out of the Gulf. But Mr Blair faced opposition from a number of Labour MPs during the debate. The prime minister engaged in a frantic round of meetings with Labour backbenchers privately before the debate in a bid to win enough support for his stance on Iraq. Moving the rebel amendment, former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle called war "illegal, immoral and illogical". But Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith backed the government's stance, saying Saddam Hussein had "the means, mentality and motive" to threaten Britain's national security. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said he believed the case for war without a second UN resolution had not been made. That did not mean, however, that his party would not give troops put into action "full moral support", he added. Meanwhile, the Tory leadership suffered three more resignations over Iraq after the departure as a whip of John Randall last week. Shadow environment minister Jonathan Sayeed, shadow home affairs minister Humfrey Malins and shadow health minister John Baron all left their posts on Tuesday. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #3 but Blair still got a majority even without Tory votes, IIUC, so that is a pretty big win. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-19 08:21:28 |
| #2 Joe, From the BBC: "But the revolt among Labour MPs was still up on the last vote with 140 backbenchers opposing Mr Blair compared to 122 at the last vote... Support for the government motion fell by 22 votes to 412 from 434 when Iraq was last debated." |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-18 17:41:46 |
| #1 Unless I'm very much mistaken, the margin of victory for the Government was actually wider this time around than the first vote last month, even with the additional Labour rebels. Anyone have the numbers to do a side-by-side comparison? |
| Posted by: Joe 2003-03-18 17:25:50 |