Scottish Daily Mail

But look at Labour’s Mid-East record

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2003 – IRAQ

Tony Blair took Britain into an ‘illegal’ war and failed to carry out any meaningful ‘postconfli­ct planning’. He joined the US-led invasion even though the mission had no UN authorisat­ion. Claims in the ‘dodgy dossier’ that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destructio­n were false. The sectarian insurgency unleashed by the war led directly to the formation of the brutal Islamic State.

2004 – LIBYA

Mr Blair struck his notorious ‘deal in the desert’ with Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, signing agreements paving the way for a string of oil deals. In return the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from jail in Scotland and Gaddafi’s son Saif was given a bogus PhD by the London School of Economics. Documents later exposed UK involvemen­t in ‘rendition’ after the desert meeting, under which exiled Libyan dissidents were handed back to Gaddafi.

2011 – LIBYA

Ed Miliband was a strong supporter of David Cameron’s decision to intervene in Libya to protect rebels at risk of slaughter by the Gaddafi regime. In the following four years, he raised the issue of post-conflict planning only twice in the Commons and in an interview he suggested the rebuilding of the nation should be left entirely to the Libyan people.

2013 – SYRIA

Mr Miliband gave in to his backbenche­rs and voted against Mr Cameron’s proposed interventi­on in the Syrian civil war. He had originally indicated he would support the action in response to fears that Syria’s Assad was planning to use chemical weapons. But he then voted against. Military action was cancelled and tens of thousands more civilians have since died in the civil war.

 ??  ?? Doing deals: Tony Blair shakes hands with Colonel Gaddafi – the British prime minister met the Libyan despot twice
Doing deals: Tony Blair shakes hands with Colonel Gaddafi – the British prime minister met the Libyan despot twice

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