Clause 8 — Desertion

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 4:30 pm on 22 May 2006.

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Photo of Siôn Simon Siôn Simon Labour, Birmingham, Erdington 4:30, 22 May 2006

Is not the point that my hon. Friend keeps making entirely oxymoronic? Is it not obvious that it will not be in the legislation? Can my hon. Friend not understand that it is not possible for this country's armed forces to launch or be involved in an illegal war? It has never happened, it will never happen, and it cannot happen. Only in the minds of mad conspiracy theorists does this country launch illegal wars. It is not possible, and that is why it is not accounted for in the Bill.

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Julian Todd
Posted on 9 Oct 2006 11:22 am (Report this annotation)

He explains how this is so in his next speech:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=2006-05-22b.1227.1

"This sovereign Parliament having voted to take that action, it becomes, as far as I am concerned, a legal and legitimate undertaking."

Christ Bryant MP applies his logic and makes the observation:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=2006-05-22b.1231.1

"[I]t is not true that any Parliament in any country can make a war legal... just because it decides that it should be legal. In the case of the Serbian Parliament's decisions in respect of the war on Bosnia, we said consistently that we did not care that the Serbian Parliament had decided that it was a legal war for its own purposes; that was not the view of the international community. It is deeply dangerous for any Parliament to go down a path that says that if it decides that a war is legal, that makes it legal."