Labour delegates force Iraq debate

[cal04]

The Labour conference will debate the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq this week, after local party delegates voted for it to be included on the agenda.

The result of the party's priorities ballot could be profoundly embarrassing for Tony Blair if delegates vote for an early pullout after Iraq's January elections.

It could also undermine the party leadership's efforts to focus the conference on "bread and butter" domestic issues designed to appeal to voters ahead of next year's expected general election

Labour delegates have forced a debate and vote on Britain's role in Iraq hours after Tony Blair said he would not apologise for the war.
The issue was the last of five topical motions voted through for debate at the conference in Brighton.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2004/story/0,14991,1313225,00.html

[j2thaizzo]

1. Blair is toast

Why I believe Blair should quit

Last year's huge anti-war protests in London proved a turning point for the Prime Minister

Henry Porter
Sunday September 26, 2004
The Observer

David Blunkett increasingly fills the Dr Strangelove role in Tony Blair's government. Last week he gave an odd interview to the Guardian in which he offered himself as the Prime Minister's lightning conductor in the run-up to the election (Ja, ja, Mr President, let ze bombs rain down on me). He moved on to the subject of political apathy: 'People are dis-engaged because the world has changed so rapidly. That change causes greater insecurity and fearfulness, which reinforces alienation from the process of politics and from coping with change.'
The Strangelove analysis, naturally enough, did not dwell on the war - the government's failure to take notice of the vast anti-war movement and the unfolding disaster of Iraq which so many predicted, including, we know now, the most senior members of the Foreign Office. Neither did he refer to the corruption of the political discourse - the lies and manipulations which have so distorted debate in this country and were responsible for forcing the war on us.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2004/comment/0,14991,1313013,00.html