Commons Problems

Order, Order.

With these traditional words the British House of Commons will meet again in a couple of weeks to debate war against Iraq. Who cares what they say? Well, Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, cares because he has to.

He isn’t a President. He can’t take his country into battle all alone. He’s only the elected leader of his elected political party. Not even the commander in chief. But here in Britain right now, quite a few in his Labour party aren’t happy about war. All Summer they’ve been demanding that Parliament is called back so the oldest democracy in the Western World can hold the executive to account. Finally, funnily enough on September 11th, Tony Blair agreed.

So, here’s a preview of the big debate. We’ll hear the worst about Saddam Hussein from Mr Blair himself. The British Government is ready to publish a dossier on the Iraqi regime, prepared with the help of the CIA. Saddam will emerge as a fanatical megalomoniac bent on using any weapon he can lay his hands on against the West. The political opposition in this country, the Conservatives - a bit like your Republicans but pretty well useless these days – will totally agree. The only voices daring to question the official line will be dissident members of Blair’s own party and some political softies called the Liberals, who don’t count. There won’t be a vote. And even if there was a vote the Government would win handsomely. But none of that should undermine genuine British anxiety about war with Iraq.

We know a lot about Iraq. For years we backed Saddam Hussein as the lesser of several evil leaders. We trained bits of his military, even the boss of his nuclear industry learned his trade here in Britain. Iraq is no Afghanistan. It’s also slap bang in the middle of a very tense Middle East. And traditionally Britain has always tried make friends with the Arabs. So, yes, we are worried. But rest assured that we’ll be there, shoulder to shoulder with you, when the time comes. The House of Commons just wants to let off some steam before the allies let off some missiles.