Tony Blair faced relentless criticism for missing a full-day Commons debate on Iraq yesterday as Margaret Beckett predicted a “potential breakthrough”, with Basra province transferred to Iraqi control in the spring.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, accused Mr Blair of “skulking out of the chamber” at a time when British lives were being lost, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, demanded leadership from Mr Blair, asking what could be more important than that the Prime Minister be in the Commons at a time when British forces were at risk every day.
Sir Menzies and David Cameron were present for the opening speeches of the debate, the first full-scale session on Iraq since 2004, but Mr Blair, who was speaking to the CBI in the afternoon, left before it began.
Earlier Sir Menzies became the first political leader to put a target date on the withdrawal of British troops, suggesting that it should happen by the end of October.
But Mr Blair, speaking during Question Time in the Commons, said that it would be disastrous to set an arbitrary timetable.
Branding the Liberal Democrat target “deeply irresponsible”, Mr Blair pledged to “see the mission through and complete it successfully”.
Under attack for not planning to attend the later debate, Mr Blair insisted that he would not address the Commons on the issue until after the completion of Operation Sinbad in Basra, which is intended to pave the way for the handover of control in the city to local security forces.
Opening the debate, the Foreign Secretary dismissed criticism of Mr Blair and said that no prime minister in history had subjected himself to more parliamentary scrutiny.
Mrs Beckett emphasised that Mr Blair had undertaken to make a statement at the “potential turning point” when Operation Sinbad was complete.
That angered Mr Hague, who said that Mr Blair’s position was unacceptable. “Where would this House have been in the Second World War if Winston Churchill had come along only when a turning point was in prospect or had been reached?” he asked. “He was in the House to lead us to war.
“He (Mr Blair) should now be in the House to reassure Parliament and the country that the Government understands the gravity of the situation in Iraq and has a clear strategy for making Iraq safe and stable.”
Mr Blair left the Commons after Question Time, amid mock farewells from Tory MPs, ten minutes before the debate began. During the afternoon he spoke to the CBI, had a meeting with the Rev Ian Paisley, saw Labour’s parliamentary committee of senior backbenchers and had other meetings in Downing Street.
Mrs Beckett said it was hoped that lead responsibility in all 18 of Iraq’s provinces would be handed over to the country’s security forces by November. But she said that setting out a definitive timetable for the withdrawal of British forces would be dangerous and irresponsible. Mrs Beckett said that three of Iraq’s provinces had been transferred to local control and she supported President Bush’s aim that the remaining areas would be handed back by November.
On Basra, she said: “We remain confident that at some point this spring we will be able to recommend that Basra province too is ready for this process of transition.”
The Foreign Secretary said that the behaviour of Iran and Syria was deeply worrying, and the Palestinian situation was a “festering sore” in the region.
She said: “What happens in Iraq has direct consequences for political developments across the region. Iran and Syria present very distinct challenges to the international community, but both have the ability to play a pivotal role — for good or ill — in Iraq, in the Middle East peace process and in the region as a whole.”
Mrs Beckett said that Iraq had been “riven by decades of terror and oppression” and conceded that governing by coalition is “not an easy job”.
Urged to build relationships with Iran and Syria, she said that contacts were being maintained. But she added: “It is not always easy to make a friend with someone who keeps trying to spit in your eye.”
Mr Hague said it was high time that MPs took stock of what had been happening in Iraq, and said there was a strong case for a similar debate on Afghanistan. “Whether we supported or opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 . . . we all have to face up to the fact that the situation there now is a grim one and a serious one.”
He said of Mr Blair: “Given the importance of this issue and the strength of feeling in this House about it, this is a debate that the Prime Minister of this country should attend.
“It is not acceptable to this House and it is quietly unacceptable to many on the other side of the House . . . that the Prime Minister, having been so keen to lead these debates in the run-up to the war when things were going fine, now prefers, with the whole issue in the balance and 130 British lives lost in Iraq, to skulk out of this chamber to attend to something else.
“It is sad that he prefers the mentality of the bunker to the open thinking of debate.”
Sir Menzies said that Mr Blair’s condolences expressed during Question Time to those killed or injured in the war was the bleakest moment in the parliamentary week, and “today, British soldiers and their families deserved to hear all the party leaders — the Prime Minister owed that to them”.
