Parliament should vote before war in Iraq

Written by Duncan Hames and published in Letter to the editor of the Wiltshire Times on Fri 6th Dec 2002

Your readers may be interested to learn that the amendment to the motion on Iraq, referred to by the Conservative Westbury MP in his column last week, was in fact proposed by Liberal Democrat MPs.

Duncan Hames says he is proud to defend our tradition of Parliamentary democracy.

The amendment was selected by the Speaker over others that were not chosen for debate, and it subsequently received support from both sides of the House. It sought to ensure that in the event of military action in the Gulf without the clear support of the UN, a vote would take place in the House of Commons before committing our armed services.

Given his stated concerns about the situation in the region, I was disappointed that the MP did not feel able to support the amendment. Perhaps it is because he finds the unquestioning support for George Bush from his own front bench spokesmen acutely embarrassing, and would rather avoid a future vote on whatever line is imposed by his Tory Whip.

As to the practice of parliamentary democracy in this country amusing Saddam Hussein in Iraq ­ that is central to what separates us from such tyrannical regimes, and I for one am proud of it.