Cameron’s Iraq inquiry stance “absolutely crazy”
A former Conservative party defence spokesman has described David Cameron’s decision to support an immediate inquiry into the Iraq war as “absolutely crazy”.
Quentin Davies, who served in shadow foreign secretary William Hague’s shadow cabinet, said the Tory leader’s backing of the unsuccessful SNP and Plaid Cymru motion risked portraying the Tories as a party with no principles.
The Conservatives strongly backed military action against Saddam Hussein in 2003 and had originally called for an inquiry involving former generals and civil servants to be held in a year’s time.
But Mr Cameron’s apparent U-turn came about after the government refused to commit to such an inquiry, with Mr Hague thought to behind the new policy.
Despite being backed by 12 Labour rebels, the SNP and Plaid Cymru motion was defeated by 25 votes, and Mr Davies revealed that he and other senior Tories abstained.
“I was quite incredulous when I heard we were going to vote for that resolution,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Week in Westminster programme.
“I didn’t vote for it but most of the party did. [That] left me really quite amazed and I’m very sorry about that as a matter of fact,” he said.
Despite full parliamentary inquiries being held during both world wars – a tradition that dates back to the Crimean war – Mr Davies said a public inquiry of an ongoing conflict was “quite unprecedented”.
“Either it’s a full and frank inquiry or it’s not. If it is, then you’re signalling to the enemy all your plans and all your weaknesses, and that can’t make any sense at all.
“I think that soldiers serving out there in these very difficult conditions would have been just as amazed as I was,” he added.
