KENNEDY CHALLENGES OVER IRAQ AS BLAIR REFUSES TO RULE OUT WAR EVEN IF UN INSPECTORS REPORT NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

5.31.45pm GMT Tue 18th Mar 2003

Charles Kennedy on the Anti War March

On the 8th January, the Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP said:

"If the United Nations Weapons Inspectorate do not come forward with concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but the United States nonetheless decide to go ahead with military conflict against Iraq, will Britain be involved?"

In response, the Prime Minister refused to rule out Britain taking part in a unilateral US military attack on Iraq even without evidence from the United Nations Weapons Inspectors of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Charles Kennedy went on to ask Tony Blair under what circumstances Britain would not take part in an American military attack on Iraq. Again, the Prime Minister failed to describe any circumstances under which he would not support unilateral US military action in Iraq.

Full transcript of today's PMQ exchange is attached.

The Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP:

Mister Speaker, given what the Prime Minister has just said, if the United Nations Weapons Inspectorate do not come forward with concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but the United States nonetheless decide to go ahead with military conflict against Iraq, will Britain be involved?

The Prime Minister:

Mister Speaker, I'm not going to speculate on the circumstances that might arise, because both ourselves and the United States of America have made it very clear that we seek to resolve this through the United Nations. The very reason the inspectors are in there is to discover whether there is a breach of the United Nations resolution – so they should be allowed to do their work. And I'm sure they will be.

The Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP:

We are fully supportive, obviously, and have been throughout, of the role of the United Nations.

But will the Prime Minister be more specific, because people in this country are deeply concerned as he rightly acknowledges. Under what circumstances could the United States take military action against Iraq, in which our country would not choose to support them?

The Prime Minister:

What I've made clear are the circumstances in which we do support military action. And those circumstances are where we have passed the United Nations resolution, saying quite specifically Saddam has to disarm himself of these weapons of mass destruction. If there is a breach of that resolution, then we will support military action to make sure that the will of the United Nations is enforced. The choice, however, as I said a moment ago is Saddam – he could do it willingly.

Now, I understand from what the Rt. Hon. Gentleman is saying is that if there is a breach of the United Nations resolution, then the Liberal Democrats will support us in the action that we have to take. I'm glad we cleared that up.