Blair and Weapons

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 25, 2003 19:36 by Dave Lynch

Just picked this up from Private Eye...

Just picked this up from Private Eye, nice one to use when the pro-war lobby say that the left has a soft spot for Saddam. “Here are some of Tony Blair’s least favourite colleagues, past and present: Bob Parry, Bill Michie, Tony Benn, Tam Dalyell, Dennis Skinner, Ann Clwyd, Dave Nellist, Martin Flannery, Ron Davies, Ian Mikardo, Joan Maynard, Bob Wareing, Eddie Loyden, Ron Brown, and Bob Litherland. Some have died, others retired or been purged. But a handful remain in parliament. What they all have in common is that they put their names to a strongly worded early day motion in February 1987 calling on the then Tory government to halt arms exports to, er Iraq. Some of those who signed the EDM were opposition whips. Suffice to say not a single member of the current (British) cabinet now fulminating over Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction could bring themselves to condemn arms sales to Iraq by signing the EDM when it might have made a difference.”