Clegg Declares Iraq War Illegal

[madmom]

By Iain Martin

James Forsyth makes an excellent point. At the end of Nick Clegg’s unsatisfactory exchanges with Jack Straw at PMQs the deputy prime minister attacked the former foreign secretary for his role in the “illegal war in Iraq.” Is this now the official position of the government? That the war in Iraq launched in 2003 was illegal?

Clegg used to say this sort of stuff all the time when he was in opposition. But he’s not in opposition anymore. He’s deputy prime minister in HMG. Within the constraints of cabinet collective responsibility, he is supposed to state the government’s position, especially when he is answering questions at the despatch box. His fellow cabinet ministers, William Hague, Liam Fox and Iain Duncan Smith, certainly don’t think the Iraq war was illegal. I would imagine that government lawyers are also still slightly jumpy about it. I wonder how delighted they will be to hear the deputy PM proclaim that the government did wage an illegal war.

I’ve called the Foreign Office press office to seek clarification. Has the government’s position on legality changed? I doubt it has. But they’re coming back to me. I’ll update when they do.

http://blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2010/07/21/clegg-declares-iraq-war-illegal/




this could get interesting, no?