Unfit To Govern

Yesterday, during Prime Ministers Question Time (PMQ) the deputy PM, Nick Clegg, made a blunder when he accused Jack Straw of being involved in the decision to take Britain into an ‘illegal’ war against Iraq.  Whilst it’s well known that Nick Clegg holds this personal belief it’s another matter if stated while representing the Government in answering a question at the despatch box during PMQ. This outburst came when, clearly Clegg had become agitated at Jack Straw’s questions relating to anomalies in the reasoning for withdrawing the promise of a loan to Forgemasters in Leeds.

To quote from the Guardian; “Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London, said: ‘A public statement by a government minister in parliament as to the legal situation would be a statement that an international court would be interested in, in forming a view as to whether or not the war was lawful.’”

Clegg’s view is clearly at odds with the Conservative party who backed the then Labour government’s decision to commit troops to Iraq in 2003 (albeit as we now know, there were no weapons of mass destruction which were believed to exist at the time).

How it’s been reported elsewhere; Guardian, BBC, Independent, Sky News, Kiran Stacey FT Blog