Report of the Iraq Inquiry

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s useful approach in going back to the primary sources. Does n...

That is very tricky, because there are two scenarios where we can go to war. One is quite straigh...

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, in 2003, the House voted not just, or even mainly, on t...

I agree with a great deal of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said. Although it is not a ma...

I have great respect for my right hon. Friend, as he will know. However, I suggest that, on this ...

Yes, but the problem that the inspectors and we would always have faced was summed up by somethin...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Yes, but I am taking a lot of interventions, and I am keen not to abuse the fact that I do not ha...

Given the right hon. Gentleman’s wisdom and expertise, he is a focal point in this discussion. Do...

The answer to the second question is easy. What happened during those 13 years was the appearance...

Given the role that my right hon. Friend plays as Chairman of the Defence Committee, I wonder whe...

I do agree that al-Qaeda was not present in Iraq at the time, but that is not the point that I wa...

I have great respect for the Chairman of the Defence Committee—in fact, I believe I voted for him...

I am saying that I was absolutely right not to vote to remove Assad in 2013 and absolutely wrong ...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I shall make a little more progress first.

My last point leads me to a second question. I h...

I am nervous about opening up a new front for my right hon. Friend, but some of the deaths in Ira...

Never, ever, again is a strong statement, and when a conflict arises, especially when it is the r...

I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis), who very helpful...

I am happy to be a substitute for my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), Mr Sp...

The question for the House is whether there is the weight of evidence to justify action, not if w...

I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s intervention. My point is that the finding about undermin...

My right hon. Friend made a strong critique of one of Sir John’s findings about the undermining o...

I agree with my right hon. Friend. At some point, there is always the issue of deciding. Every de...

I suggest that Iraq 2003 ranks with Suez in a catalogue of British foreign policy disasters. It c...

I was here in 2003, and I was one of those who rebelled against the leader of my party and voted ...

I do not think that we are saying different things. I am not suggesting that there was intentiona...

I hope that the hon. Gentleman and you, Mr Speaker, will indulge me for a second. My speaking tim...

I thank the hon. Lady for what she has said. I am sure that it will be taken on board by all conc...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, and to follow the previous speakers, who have a great w...

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity to speak in the debate. The Chilcot report, published...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way and for his powerful speech. One thing that has always ...

Absolutely. I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. We have come an extraordinarily long way....

It is an absolute pleasure to follow the hon. and gallant Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny ...

On a brief point of information, I should say that historically this was British political histor...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reminding us of that, and he is right. This is why it is ...

The hon. Gentleman just said that this decision led to the public losing faith in this House, but...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that, as it brings me on to my next point, which is that ...

indicated assent.

The hon. Gentleman, like me, will therefore have been recalled to Parliament in September 2002. W...

Many important lessons will emerge over the coming months and years, and of course deep sympathy ...

One of the lessons that I took from the Chilcot report was about a habit that we who have been to...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. Yes, over the past 10 to 15 years, we have seen too ...

I have had a very long involvement with Iraq. For Members who were not here in the 1980s, the 199...

The right hon. Lady is trying to persuade us that Saddam Hussein was a vile dictator. We all acce...

When I come to the relevant section in my speech, the hon. Gentleman will get his answer.

W...

I have the utmost respect for the right hon. Lady for all the work she has done over the years to...

That is a very interesting question. I can only speculate, as I am sure that the hon. Gentleman h...

Order. To try to accommodate all remaining colleagues, there will now be a 10-minute limit on Bac...

So we now have the Chilcot report. Seven long years we have waited for this report of 2.6 million...

I listened with great interest to the speech of the hon. Member for Southend West (Sir David Ames...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that it was risible to try to associate the secular Saddam Hussein...

That is absolutely right. It would have been very convenient for those who wanted to take militar...

I wonder whether my hon. Friend’s recollection is the same as mine. My recollection is that, prio...

I would not go quite that far, because I am more kindly than my hon. Friend. My recollection is t...

I think the hon. Gentleman is being slightly disingenuous in this. There were only 165 Conservati...

Order. Members should not use the word “disingenuous”. The hon. Member for Southend West thinks t...

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I took no offence and understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. It is difficu...

The decision to commit to the US neo-con agenda of an invasion of Iraq was, and remains, the bigg...

I recall the hon. Gentleman’s role in formulating a cross-party amendment that was put to the Hou...

I have some things to say about the then Speaker—I will get on to that fairly quickly—but first I...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) and hear the his...

I seem to recall that the hon. Gentleman and I were together in the television studios at the tim...

The hon. Gentleman remembers well. We did indeed sit together in television studios, because we j...

Does my hon. Friend share my concerns about recent mission creep and the use of intelligence-led ...

Many Members keep saying that we have learned the lessons of war, but I am not convinced, and nei...

I welcome the fact that the Government have allocated two days for this debate. This is an opport...

I was a Member of this House when the decision to invade Iraq was taken. Plaid Cymru was against ...

I compliment the hon. Gentleman on his part in the Iraq rebellions. If I may put the record strai...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very telling point. It was a conscious choice to join our senior ally ...

I begin with a declaration of interest: my brother served on the frontline in the Iraq war, so th...

For me, that phrase really blows apart my belief that Prime Ministers, regardless of political pe...

I am grateful for the intervention from the hon. and gallant Member, whose opinion I often taken ...

A number of people have said today that the 2003 decision casts a long shadow, and indeed it does...

The hon. Lady knows that I have deep respect for her, which will continue. I seem to recall, howe...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that most helpful intervention, because it takes us back to the ex...

I may disagree with certain elements of the hon. Lady’s speech, but does she agree that one of th...

I look at the Russians in Syria. I look at what the Russians did in Afghanistan. Do I want to sta...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon). I commend her for her thought...

I was not planning to intervene as I have made my speech, but—this is one of the knock-on effects...

With respect, I do not want to get taken down a side alley and into the question of Syria, compel...

The right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) is exactly right. The issue of whet...

A very different approach was taken at the time by Canada. Jean Chrétien, the then Prime Minister...

No, absolutely not.

To say that I might accept that there was an ingrained belief, genuinel...

It is a privilege to take part in this debate on the Chilcot report and to have listened to colle...

Order. There are still quite a few conversations going on in the Chamber. The Secretary of State ...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am concerned that the UK is not supportive of the UN Secretary-Ge...

I sat through the whole debate yesterday and today, and it has been a fascinating education. I ha...

During these two days of debate, we have heard from Members in all parts of the House who have co...

I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate on an issue that should have been address...

It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Kirsten Oswald). I do not necess...

It has been a great pleasure—privilege might be a better word—to sit through the entirety of the ...

I speak as the wife of a former member of our armed forces personnel. Does my hon. Friend agree t...

I thank my hon. Friend very much for that intervention. I am sure we all wish to pay tribute to t...

The hon. Gentleman is making a most interesting speech. Before he leaves his list of failures, ma...

The right hon. Gentleman makes a wonderfully telling point. I like his use of one word in particu...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Would it be in order to put on the record Members’ thanks for th...

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, which obviously was unsolic...

My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) took the words right out of my mouth wi...

This has indeed been a considered and moving debate, as befits such a serious subject. I believe ...

The Secretary of State has just listed the membership of the National Security Council. While it ...

I heard my right hon. Friend’s speech earlier today, in which he made that point at some length. ...

My right hon. Friend is, I am delighted to say, serving in his current role under his second Prim...

I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend, particularly for his kind words. I am now serv...

I see a slight contradiction in the Secretary of State saying that it would over-complicate the m...

As I have said, the heads of the armed forces are represented on the National Security Council by...

Would the Secretary of State acknowledge that Baroness Neville-Jones, one of the architects of th...

I read the Baroness’s speech, and I advise all Members to have a look at the debate on this matte...

I think that the Secretary of State has laid to rest the canard that the NSC operates without exp...

I can confirm that that is exactly the position. There is no shortage of briefing for members of ...

On that point about cross-departmental arrangements working more effectively, does the Secretary ...

I shall talk about the lesson on the importance of planning for reconstruction in a moment. I jus...

I am listening carefully to what my right hon. Friend is saying, but this is not just an issue of...

Yes, I do. Defence intelligence and the gathering of information on the ground have improved and ...

This is an important area, but the right hon. Gentleman has focused almost exclusively on the Exe...

I accept that. I was here at the time and voted in that particular Division. It is important that...

Speaking as a Back Bencher, the right hon. Gentleman’s new colleague the Brexit Secretary, the ri...

Members and Ministers should speak the truth in this particular House, but whether the Prime Mini...

I am glad that the Secretary of State has come to this point about members of the armed forces an...

We have taken a lot of measures to involve the reserves more closely with the regulars now. After...

The Secretary of State is right that we must take account of all those things, but surely the pub...

The Chilcot report itself holds to account those who were involved and took the key decisions, an...