UK Parliament / Open data

Iraq: Future Strategic Relationship

Debate on Wednesday, 14 January 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Hutton of Furness. The answering member was Liam Fox.
Debate on a motion to consider the matter of Iraq: future strategic relationship. Agreed to on question.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
486 c231-313 
Session
2008-09
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Bill Rammell | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman goes back and reads the words of Dr. Hans Blix very carefully, he will see tha...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) The Minister repeats again and again that life is obviously much better now that Saddam has gone. I ...

Show all contributions (154)
Bill Rammell | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. One factor that is never taken into account in the balance s...
Ed Davey | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) Let us return to the reason given to the House for war, which was weapons of mass destruction. We ar...
Bill Rammell | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge, as does our former Prime Minister, that there should have been better post-conflict p...
Bill Rammell | 486 c311 (Link to this contribution) When the hon. Gentleman describes our contribution as a humiliation, I do not think that he was desc...
Bernard Jenkin | 486 c310 (Link to this contribution) To assist the Minister, does he recall that the Iraq survey group report, which was produced after t...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c311-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not doubt that, but I have to stress the point, which came out in the debate, that while the MO...
Bill Rammell | 486 c312 (Link to this contribution) I heard the claim that the hon. Gentleman made earlier about what the former Secretary of State for ...
Adam Holloway | 486 c312 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps there will be great benefits for the Iraqi people, but, rather than giving vague assurances ...
Bill Rammell | 486 c312-3 (Link to this contribution) Let us look at the situation in Iraq today. The fact that we have a much more stable Iraq that is no...
James Gray | 486 c288 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman is making a mistake. He is quite wrong in saying that our forces hav...
Harry Cohen | 486 c288-90 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has misinterpreted my point. I pointed out the quality of the troops, but they ha...
Adam Holloway | 486 c284-6 (Link to this contribution) It is tragic. I was in Iraq in the first war as a soldier and in the second war as a television corr...
Harry Cohen | 486 c286-8 (Link to this contribution) This is an opportunity to voice a parliamentary verdict on the excursion into Iraq. The Archbishop o...
Adam Holloway | 486 c291 (Link to this contribution) I categorically did not refer to British cowardice in Operation Charge of the Knights—on the contrar...
Adam Holloway | 486 c290 (Link to this contribution) Although I agree with the hon. Gentleman about abuses on the part of some private security companies...
Harry Cohen | 486 c290-1 (Link to this contribution) They were doing a lot more than that, by the way. The situation was set up by Bush and Rumsfeld and ...
James Gray | 486 c293-4 (Link to this contribution) I rise briefly and with some trepidation because all this afternoon's speakers, at least until recen...
Harry Cohen | 486 c293 (Link to this contribution) I shall do that; the point is made. The oil robbery is another part of it, with UK-US companies havi...
Speaker | 486 c293 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member knows that quotes should be much briefer, but I hope that he will now draw hi...
Harry Cohen | 486 c291-3 (Link to this contribution) I accept the hon. Gentleman's point, but that is an implication. Let me read what Sir Jock Stirrup,...
Richard Bacon | 486 c294 (Link to this contribution) Speaking as someone who voted against the Iraq war, I am familiar with the Conservative Members who ...
James Gray | 486 c294-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. That is, of course, a matter for the record. I...
Richard Bacon | 486 c295 (Link to this contribution) I share my hon. Friend's admiration for the speech of the my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (M...
James Gray | 486 c295-7 (Link to this contribution) I know that my hon. Friend has had important engagements elsewhere and has unfortunately not had the...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c297-301 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to participate in this important debate, and may I echo the remarks of my hon. Frie...
Andrew Pelling | 486 c301-3 (Link to this contribution) Whatever our discussions about how affairs in Iraq have progressed, it is important—as the hon. Memb...
David Lidington | 486 c303-7 (Link to this contribution) The debate has been mostly thoughtful and, on occasions, passionate. I would draw out from it three ...
Liam Fox | 486 c308 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to hear that. I, too, could reply with a cheap shot and say that you cannot have less t...
Bill Rammell | 486 c307-8 (Link to this contribution) We have had a genuinely good debate, and there has been a fairly large degree of consensus in the co...
Bernard Jenkin | 486 c309 (Link to this contribution) Why are British companies faring so much worse than French, Italian and German companies in Basra?
Bill Rammell | 486 c308-9 (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that the funding comes from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulato...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c267-70 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree. The hon. Lady agreed to take part in one of the video conferences that we had to...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c270-3 (Link to this contribution) I never thought in 1984, when I stood for Parliament against the right hon. Member for Cynon Valley ...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c267 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. We have attempted to link up with those women by video on several occasions. Colleagues in a...
Jo Swinson | 486 c267 (Link to this contribution) I am enjoying the right hon. Lady's contribution. I would certainly say that getting more women elec...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c266 (Link to this contribution) I was not talking specifically about the Kurds, but about the persecution of minorities in other par...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c267 (Link to this contribution) I am not exactly clear what the right hon. Lady is saying. Does she support internment?
Dari Taylor | 486 c273-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for North-East Hampshire (Mr. Arbuthnot). I am plea...
Dari Taylor | 486 c274 (Link to this contribution) Before I give way, let me finish clarifying what General Sir Mike Jackson said, as he issued the sta...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c275 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that I am testing the hon. Lady's patience, but this is a fundamental point. She says t...
Dari Taylor | 486 c275-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I will have to agree to disagree on that. I want to take the House one stage...
Bernard Jenkin | 486 c277-8 (Link to this contribution) While listening to the hon. Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor), I am afraid that I reflected tha...
Patrick Mercer | 486 c278 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the filling of British commitments by United States forces probably d...
Dari Taylor | 486 c275 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Gentleman will know that I am bound to say that if we could all read a crystal ba...
Dari Taylor | 486 c275 (Link to this contribution) No. The hon. Gentleman implies from a sedentary position that such an assessment had been made. Let ...
Bernard Jenkin | 486 c278-82 (Link to this contribution) I do not know what discussions took place between the British and American Governments about that. I...
Harry Cohen | 486 c284 (Link to this contribution) I hear the hon. Gentleman's point, and I will give my version of it if I catch your eye, Mr. Deputy ...
Adam Holloway | 486 c282-4 (Link to this contribution) We are in danger of becoming dewy-eyed over the debacle in Iraq. In this century, we have never had ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c260 (Link to this contribution) Something else that we share with Barack Obama is our outright opposition to the Iraq war from the o...
Ed Davey | 486 c260 (Link to this contribution) In one way, I hope that the hon. Gentleman's assessment is right. There are some hon. Members whose ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c259-60 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman. Does he agree that President-elect Obama need not wo...
Ed Davey | 486 c257 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman is talking about the slightly fewer than 400 troops who will remain afte...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c257 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the naval troops should be withdrawn?
Ed Davey | 486 c257 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. I am not sure that the Christians who have received such appalling treatment, the ...
Ed Davey | 486 c258-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention. I know that she has been working tirelessly on...
Jo Swinson | 486 c258 (Link to this contribution) In the context of the uncertain security situation as our troops come home, may I ask Members to rem...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c257 (Link to this contribution) That is indeed correct, but what then is the difference between them and the Army troops who have be...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c263-6 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister has also answered that question. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman has not been in the H...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c261 (Link to this contribution) The Stiglitz figure of $3 trillion represents 30 per cent. of the US national debt for a foreign pol...
Ed Davey | 486 c260-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. I am sure that hon. Members are aware of that. We hope that Ir...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c262-3 (Link to this contribution) I found the speeches made by the two Front Benchers to be very comprehensive and fair, and I want to...
Ed Davey | 486 c261-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will expect me to agree with him yet again. The cost of the war will rightly be ...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c263 (Link to this contribution) May I finish the sentence? We need to look at the best ways of helping the people of Iraq rather tha...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c263 (Link to this contribution) It has been made clear by everybody concerned on the Government Benches that there will be an inquir...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c263 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady just talked about moving on, but does she think that we should move on without a...
Andrew Pelling | 486 c266 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the right hon. Lady on mentioning that a number of minorities exist in Kurdistan. On ...
Kim Howells | 486 c251-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for a fine speech, which reminded us how a democ...
Liam Fox | 486 c249-51 (Link to this contribution) As I think that I have made clear, it is a matter for the Iraqi Government, as they increasingly tak...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c249 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. When I visited Iraq last year, members of the Governme...
Liam Fox | 486 c248-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification. I imagine that the House and the Select Committee will want to...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c248 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene. He has raised some important quest...
Liam Fox | 486 c245-7 (Link to this contribution) It is presumptuous if we think that we know what is good for the Iraqi people better than they do. I...
Harry Cohen | 486 c245 (Link to this contribution) I want to return to the hon. Gentleman's first point, about the removal of Saddam Hussein, whom we a...
Liam Fox | 486 c244-5 (Link to this contribution) I will talk about Afghanistan in a moment, but if the hon. Gentleman is saying that the world commun...
Robert Smith | 486 c244 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is detailing the price that has been paid, but is there not another price that ha...
Liam Fox | 486 c256 (Link to this contribution) Let me ask the hon. Gentleman a simple question. Are the people of Iraq better off without Saddam Hu...
Ed Davey | 486 c255-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells) has made a powerful speech, and he will be surprised to...
Andrew Pelling | 486 c257 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made a major point. Does he agree that members of the Christian community, pe...
Ed Davey | 486 c256-7 (Link to this contribution) Of course I think that they are better off. However, although I listened to what the hon. Gentleman ...
Kim Howells | 486 c254 (Link to this contribution) I am pretty certain that the British Government have no say in what Tehran does. I only wish that we...
Harry Cohen | 486 c254 (Link to this contribution) If a future Iranian Government, with the support of the Iranian people, wanted to renationalise thei...
Kim Howells | 486 c254-5 (Link to this contribution) The Iraqi Government will decide for themselves what they want to do with their oil industry, and qu...
Harry Cohen | 486 c254 (Link to this contribution) What about the Iraqi Government?
Kim Howells | 486 c254 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made that clear, as did the hon. Member for ...
Meg Munn | 486 c254 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend. How important does he see the development of democracy i...
Bill Rammell | 486 c310 (Link to this contribution) There is a huge amount of selective amnesia in some parts of the House.
Adam Holloway | 486 c309 (Link to this contribution) It is all very well to say that, but it is disingenuous of the Minister to suggest that all is rosy ...
Bill Rammell | 486 c309 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that evidence exists to support that claim. After the debate, we will undertake an ...
Ed Davey | 486 c310 (Link to this contribution) Hansard will show that that was not the full answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Woodspring. I...
Bill Rammell | 486 c309-10 (Link to this contribution) We made it clear that the reason for going to war—rightly, in my view—was Saddam Hussein's failure t...
Harry Cohen | 486 c242 (Link to this contribution) Why is the private sector the priority for the Government and the occupying forces in Iraq? The publ...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 486 c240 (Link to this contribution) It seems to me that the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Sir Malcolm Rifkin...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c240-2 (Link to this contribution) Well, I may have the chance to do that if I make a little more progress. The right hon. and learned ...
Meg Munn | 486 c242 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my right hon. Friend agrees that the ability of people from Iraq to travel internatio...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c242-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who was a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for maki...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c242 (Link to this contribution) I am describing the Iraqi Government's policy to develop a more vibrant private sector. That is the ...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c242 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a serious point, but let me make two or three comments. We are not talking abou...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c237 (Link to this contribution) I am not entirely sure that I know the context within which the Chief of the Defence staff made thos...
Dari Taylor | 486 c237 (Link to this contribution) I am hearing in the House today that British troops ““eventually”” got involved. As I understand it—...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c236-7 (Link to this contribution) I have given way to all of the hon. Gentlemen who are seeking to intervene. I hate to say it to the ...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c238-9 (Link to this contribution) No. From the end of May onwards, as I have said, there will be a significant reduction in UK force ...
Robert Smith | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) I shall not argue with any of the figures that the hon. Gentleman has used. My point is that we have...
Ed Davey | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) During the Queen's Speech debate on foreign policy, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that it was not ...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) With great respect to the hon. Gentleman, no. We are all looking forward to hearing his speech, but ...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) That is not a full and complete description of what happened later in 2008, and I want to come to Op...
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 486 c234 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has drawn attention to the circumstances of Iraq under the reign of Saddam Hu...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c234-5 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, I am aware of that. I am afraid that I do not accept responsibility for that; those were the...
Edward Leigh | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) Prior to our withdrawal to the airport, can the Secretary of State give a categorical assurance that...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) There were discussions with local militia; of course there were, and we conducted those discussions ...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that as a description either. I would be perfectly prepared to accept as fact the st...
Adam Holloway | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State not accept that when we made the accommodation and went back to the airp...
Malcolm Rifkind | 486 c239 (Link to this contribution) The Government have chosen as the title of the debate Britain's ““future strategic relationship”” wi...
Malcolm Rifkind | 486 c240 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is, of course, correct that I have not yet heard the rest of his speech, bu...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c240 (Link to this contribution) I have great respect for the right hon. and learned Gentleman, so I shall not make the point that we...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c234 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the Chairman of the Defence Committee.
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c234 (Link to this contribution) In some of the interventions that have been made so far, it has almost been suggested that history b...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c234 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has made the point much better than I have. I agree with his comments. That...
Bernard Jenkin | 486 c233 (Link to this contribution) I supported the war, and I have not demurred from that decision. Nevertheless, the point raised by m...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is responsible for how he votes in this House. He has drawn attention to his voti...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c233 (Link to this contribution) I want to talk about an inquiry in a minute when I get to that part of my speech. I am grateful to t...
Jeremy Corbyn | 486 c233 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for giving way. What estimate can he give us of the number of civilia...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c233 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to my hon. Friend in a second—[Interruption.] No, indeed, and I want to make this cl...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c233 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend will know, I am not in a position to answer his question about the number of Iraqi...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) I cannot confirm that, I am afraid. [Interruption.] Well, the hon. Gentleman asked me the question a...
James Gray | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) I entirely acknowledge that the Conservative party did indeed stand shoulder to shoulder with the Go...
Ed Davey | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) Can the Secretary of State confirm that, prior to the decision to go to war, the Government received...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) A few moments ago, the Secretary of State mentioned terrorist extremism and he has just mentioned al...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c231 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept the last part of the hon. Gentleman's comments at all; I shall come to the first par...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c231 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of Iraq: future strategic relationship." O...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way to the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood), as I have just done so....
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c232 (Link to this contribution) At the time of the military intervention in March 2003, we were grateful to have the full support of...
Ann Clwyd | 486 c267 (Link to this contribution) Oh dear. No. I know that many Members take an interest in the situation of women in Iraq. In many p...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c238 (Link to this contribution) That I certainly can confirm. British forces were strongly in support of this operation and were kee...
Bill Rammell | 486 c310 (Link to this contribution) I will answer it, but let me quote for the hon. Gentleman from a contribution by one right hon. and ...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c274 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for quoting General Jackson who was, of course, responsible for the B...
Ed Davey | 486 c258 (Link to this contribution) I think we need to be a bit careful about how we interpret why certain people have been there. I did...
Liam Fox | 486 c244 (Link to this contribution) The United Kingdom has paid a high price to remove Saddam and help to build a better Iraq. British f...
Patrick Mercer | 486 c236 (Link to this contribution) Could the Secretary of State explain why, if the British forces remained in overwatch once they with...
Dari Taylor | 486 c237 (Link to this contribution) I am quite concerned, and would like to ask my right hon. Friend whether I have got this right. I li...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 486 c239 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not accept that. I am only on page six of my speech, and I want to come to the other aspect...
Angus Robertson | 486 c231 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for allowing such an early intervention. We now have a timet...
Subjects
Armed forces
Armed conflict
Development aid
Women
Inquiries
Human rights
Iraq
Foreign policy
Foreign relations
Peacekeeping operations
Politics and government
Press freedom
Terrorism
Security
Religion
Trade
Violence
Iran
Reconstruction
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