MPs reject call for fresh Blair inquiry
WIDNES and Runcorn MPs Derek Twigg and Graham Evans have voted against a further investigation into the lead up to the second Iraq war.
Mr Twigg, Labour, and Mr Evans, Conservative, were among 439 MPs to vote against the motion tabled by Scottish National Party (SNP) shadow spokesperson for foreign affairs Alex Salmond MSP to investigate alleged discrepancies between what Tony Blair said in public and behind the scenes. Only 70 MPs voted in favour. Mr Salmond said that the Chilcott Inquiry had shown substantial evidence that Mr Blair and others had provided ‘ misleading’ information in developing policy towards Iraq.
He said this was most prominent in exchanges with the US government and information given to the public, to Parliament and in presenting intelligence.
In July, following the Chilcott Report’s publication, Mr Twigg said that MPs had voted for military action in good faith and that the US should take most of the blame for the ‘appalling mess’ that followed.
The Halton MP also spoke in the Commons where he said the responsibility for the murder of so many civilians lay with Saddam Hussein, al-Qaeda, its offshoots and Isis.
He also asked the then Prime Minister David Cameron whether the main allegations levelled at Tony Blair were borne out by the report, namely that he had misled or lied to Parliament, that intelligence had been doctored ● and that the war was illegal.
Speaking ahead of the vote over whether further investigation was needed, Mr Salmond accused Mr Blair of making ‘untrue’ statements.
He said: “In summary, from late 2001 to March 2003, Tony Blair repeatedly made three interrelated statements to the House Of Commons: no decision had been taken to use military force against Iraq; military action could be avoided by Iraq’s disarmament of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; and that regime change was not the goal of Government policy.
“The report of the Iraq inquiry, published on July 6, demonstrates conclusively and authoritatively that each of those three statements was untrue, and that their falsity was known to Mr Blair.
“Mr Blair backed up his claims about the need for Iraqi disarmament by asserting there was conclusive evidence of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and that these weapons were a threat to the UK’s national security.
“On both points, those statements contradicted the intelligence assessments put to Mr Blair.”