Brown: MPs should decide war issue
Parliament should be the final arbiter on whether the country goes to war in future, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has said.
Against the backdrop of the 2003 Iraq war, Mr Brown said in hindsight questions of grave importance ought not to be the sole preserve of the Prime Minister.
The premier has the royal prerogative to take military action without first asking MPs.
In the interview with The Telegraph, Mr Brown said as issues of national importance pertained to the very stuff of “future politics”, it was unlikely the Government – even in the most “exceptional circumstances” – would decline to hold a ballot in the Commons.
“I think Tony Blair would join me in saying that, having put this decision to Parliament, people would expect these kinds of decisions to go before Parliament,” he said.
His remarks come after the Attorney General’s initial advice on the war to Tony Blair was leaked to the press.
In recent days, Mr Blair has been faced with strong criticism that he failed to inform ministers and MPs of doubts about the legality of the war and the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Conservative leader Michael Howard accused Mr Blair of lying over the war.
Meanwhile, Lord Kinnock, former Labour leader, said Iraq had been a “massive diversion” for the party during the election campaign.
In an opinion poll for The Times, the Tories stand on 31 per cent, with Labour nine points ahead on 40 per cent. The Lib Dems – a consistently fervent opponent of the Iraq war – are on 22 per cent, up one.
