Posted on 03/19/2003 12:10:15 AM PST by Timesink
Tony Blair secured the backing of Parliament last night to send British troops to war against Iraq. An anti-war motion was defeated in the Commons by 396 votes to 217, a majority of 179, despite a substantial Labour rebellion.
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As many as 139 Labour MPs voted for the rebel amendment, according to its sponsors.
Mr Blair had staked his personal future on gaining the support of MPs for military action despite the failure of Britain and America to secure a fresh United Nations mandate for the use of force.
He broke with precedent to give the Commons the opportunity to express its explicit support for the use of Britain's Armed Forces before they were sent into action, probably before the end of the week.
Opening the most critical Commons debate since he became Prime Minister, he indicated he was ready to resign if MPs voted against military action.
The political risks he was taking by sending forces into action without a fresh United Nations mandate were underlined when two middle ranking ministers, John Denham and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, followed Robin Cook in resigning from the Government.
Mr Blair's efforts to limit a Labour back-bench rebellion were boosted when Clare Short staged a surprising and personally humiliating about-turn on her threat to resign from the Cabinet.
In an extraordinary statement she said that until yesterday she had believed she should quit as International Development Secretary. She remained "very critical" of the Government's handling of the crisis and she had only stayed on so that she could help with the reconstruction of Iraq after the war.
Miss Short accepted she would be "villified" for her decision. "I would be more popular if I went, but the truth is I would be copping out."
As hundreds of noisy anti-war protesters outside the Commons brought central London to a standstill, Mr Blair acknowledged the historic significance of yesterday's debate on a Government motion seeking authority for military action and "all necessary means" to disarm Iraq.
He said the Government was facing its most serious test, with its majority at risk for the first time since he came to power.
For 50-minutes, a crowded and sombre Commons listened as he described in detail the scale of Iraq's armoury of terror and insisted it was time to end the 12 years of "games" being played by Saddam with the international community.
He was careful not to be dismissive of the scores of Labour MPs who were preparing to vote against the Government despite an intensive arm-twisting effort by Labour whips.
But he rounded angrily on the Liberal Democrats, who opposed military action, claiming they were "unified as ever in opportunism and error".
Mr Blair said Britain could not afford to back down in the face of the "clear and present danger" to its national security posed by Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction, particularly a "dirty" radiological bomb.
If troops were pulled back "at the point of reckoning", Saddam and other tyrants would know the will confronting them was decaying and feeble. To retreat now would "tell our allies that at the very moment of action, at the very moment when they need our determination, that Britain faltered.
"I would not be party to such a course," Mr Blair said. It was time "to show that at the moment of decision we have the courage to do the right thing". As he ended, many Tory MPs and Labour backbenchers, waved their order papers in admiration and support.
MPs on both sides of the Commons said it was the most powerful speech Mr Blair had delivered, and he departed from his prepared text to deliver an emotional, hand-written peroration appealing for backing for military action.
Mr Blair's wife Cherie made a rare visit to the Commons visitors' gallery to hear the speech. Given her concerns about human rights, her presence was seen as a demonstration of solidarity. Earlier she joined in the effort to quell the Labour revolt by telephoning several wavering MPs to urge them to back the Government.
Mr Blair spent most of the day in the Commons seeking to rally support from his MPs. He briefed the Queen by telephone instead of going to the Palace for his weekly audience.
Iain Duncan Smith said with the country soon likely to be at war, the troops should not be deprived of the political support they needed.
He said Mr Blair was acting in the national interest and called on Tory MPs to back the Government. If Parliament "funked" the challenge of disarming Iraq, the consequences for the world would be disastrous.
A day of high drama at Westminster began with Lord Hunt announcing his resignation on BBC Radio 4's Today. Mr Denham, the Home Office minister, then quit after a meeting with Mr Blair.
Anne Campbell and Bob Blizzard, two unpaid parliamentary private secretaries, quit so that they could vote for a cross-party amendment arguing that the case for war had not yet been made, especially given the absence of specific UN authorisation.
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