LONDON: The Deputy Prime Minister's statement, while standing in for David Cameron in Prime Minister's Questions, could lead to renewed legal claims against the Government and armed forces.
Clegg's comments angered some Conservative MPs, many of whom, including Mr Cameron, had voted for the 2003 invasion. His remarks came as Mr Clegg clashed with Jack Straw, who was standing in for Harriet Harman, Labour's leader.
Speaking about the former foreign secretary he said: "Maybe he one day - perhaps we will have to wait for his memoirs - could account for his role in the most disastrous decision of all, which is the illegal invasion of Iraq."
The Liberal Democrats were the only mainstream party to oppose the decision to topple Saddam Hussein. In the Commons Mr Clegg seemed to revel in reminding Mr Straw that it was Labour that had taken the country to war illegally.
Before his surprise outburst Mr Clegg had enjoyed raucous backing from his Coalition colleagues as he stood in at the Dispatch Box for the first time for the Prime Minister who is in America.
But his comments were seized on as he was speaking for the Coalition. Downing Street unconvincingly claimed that Mr Clegg was allowed to speak in a personal capacity.
In an attempt to defuse the row Number 10 said that the Iraq Inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, would declare whether the invasion on March 2003 was illegal.
But hours later a spokesman for the inquiry made it clear that Sir John would not make a conclusion on whether the America-led invasion, which was backed by 45,000 British personnel, was legal.
However, Downing Street still chose not to distance itself from the comments as Tory MPs attacked Mr Clegg for his contentious remarks.
No comments:
Post a Comment