Ben Wallace asserted yesterday that Britain has fought “illegal wars”, drawing fierce criticism from former military commanders & Tory MPs
thetimes.co.uk/article/minist…
Gen Lord Dannatt said Wallace’s language was “somewhat disappointing” & “quite unfortunate... because we lost 179 people in Iraq & I wouldn’t want their families to think they lost their lives doing something that was illegal. The gvt of the day thought it was right thing to do.”
Colonel Richard Kemp said Wallace “needs to explain what he means” as it was “Conservative Party policy during the Blair government to support” Iraq
Remains unclear what No 10 makes of Wallace remarks...
Boris Johnson voted for Iraq War in 2002-03, as did >20 current Tory MPs.
Wallace made remark in debate on Overseas Ops Bill.
Attacking Labour he said: “Much of the mess we are having to come & clean up today is because of your illegal wars, your events in the past.”
Lab’s John Healey said remarks were “not worthy of the office” of defence secretary
A series of Tory MPs were also critical. One told The Times: “He got carried away & then his personal views rode in. He’s got himself into unfortunate territory and it’s unhelpful.”
Another said: “It’s important not to allow party-political jibes to piss off the military.”
Chilcot report was damning of Iraq war but did not rule on legality of military action.
Other political and diplomatic figures have shared the def sec’s views, including Jeremy Corbyn and former UN sec gen Kofi Annan, who have both described Iraq war as “illegal”.
When former deputy PM Nick Clegg made that prouncement in Commons in 2010, however, he was forced to clarify he had been speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the government.
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