Results 1-20 of 4,615 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Clare Short

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: Just to make this clear, I have not said that there were no plans. Detailed plans were made with the State Department, the UN and other international agencies. The hon. Gentleman is from the military. DFID and the humanitarian agencies cannot bring peace in an occupied territory—that is a military job. I do not honour the attempt to pass over to the humanitarian agencies the...

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: In the short time that is available—let me put on record that I still resent the guillotining of everything, and believe that it is one of the reasons for the diminution of the authority of the House of Commons—I want to focus on why we need an inquiry. I shall argue that the reasons are so profound that the inquiry must take place in public, the inquiry team must be...

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: I cannot confirm that date, but I can confirm that when I heard the rumour—but did not see the legal document—that the Attorney-General doubted the legality of the war, I warned my staff of the consequences of that, which I think was entirely proper. That is part of the shame of it all, but I shall come on to the preparations. There were preparations that were then all junked,...

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: All the Cabinet meetings were little chats: they were never a proper consideration of all the options. That is terrifying, but true, and it means that our political institutions are unreliable and incapable of making proper, considered decisions. When the Attorney-General came to Cabinet—I remember him coming only once, right at the end—I was stunned by the opinion that he brought...

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: The answer is that because this was being driven—I am running out of time—by the Prime Minister on the phone to the White House, British systems were breaking down. One part of the Government was giving that advice, and another was not. My final point is that because of the deceit, proper consideration was not given to all the policy options. There were other ways of bringing down...

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: The military keep implying that it was the fault of the humanitarian agencies that there was no reconstruction, but if the military occupy a country, they have to prevent disorder from breaking out. That is a military task, and I underline that their trying to pass the buck as though disorder were the fault of the UN or the Department for International Development really is not good enough.

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: Many of those who cautioned against the war said that there was a grave danger of the outbreak of chaotic violence. I think that passing off responsibility for bringing that about—and all the deaths that flowed from it—by saying that it is all due to terrorism is not good enough.

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: None.

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: Just for clarity, the legal advice appeared at the last minute in an answer to a parliamentary question in the House of Lords. The other legal advice, which was never circulated to Cabinet, came out when it was leaked during the election campaign. There was no other legal advice.

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: Will the Foreign Secretary give way?

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: On the point with which he is dealing.

Opposition Day — [14th allotted day]: Iraq Inquiry (24 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: I thank the Foreign Secretary. Surely it is wrong to allow Sir John Chilcot to decide whether evidence should be taken under oath when he does not have the power to require it to be taken under oath? He could make a recommendation to the House, but it is the House that would have to give that power to the inquiry. It will not be good enough unless evidence is taken under oath. I ask the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Iraq (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clare Short: We all welcome the demise of the Saddam Hussein regime, but the important question is: could it have been done differently? Could Saddam Hussein have been indicted, and could a lot of Iraqis have not lost their lives? We all agree that we mourn the loss of our soldiers, their injuries and the number of soldiers who are mentally ill, but should we not regret the death of hundreds of thousands...

Gaza (21 Jan 2009)

Clare Short: I think that the figures that the Minister has just given about rockets between June and December are wrong and, as I said in my speech, my source is an Israeli human rights group. I have also seen an exchange in which the spokesman for the Israeli Government agreed that the rockets stopped between June and December. I ask the Minister to re-examine her assertion. I think that she will find...

Gaza (21 Jan 2009)

Clare Short: Under the ICC—it was the new Labour Government who signed up to it in 1998—a state that has not signed up to the authority of the ICC can be dealt with by a reference to the international court and the prosecutor then makes inquiries. That is the way in which Sudan and Darfur were dealt with, and that is the right procedure, but the Government appear to be ignoring that and...

Gaza (21 Jan 2009)

Clare Short: I am grateful for the opportunity to report to the House on my recent visit to Gaza. Also, I wish to press the Government to do more to uphold international law. It is my view, and that of many others, that if international law were upheld, there could and would be two states in Palestine, and we could look forward realistically to peace, but Israel constantly flouts international law, and...

Gaza (21 Jan 2009)

Clare Short: I agree absolutely with my right hon. Friend. I will come to that point and make that argument. It is the duty of parliamentarians and the public in the UK, and across Europe, to hold our Governments to account. The fact that they do nothing to enforce international law is a green light to Israel to keep breaking international law. The people of this country, particularly young Muslims, are...

Gaza (21 Jan 2009)

Clare Short: I agree with the hon. Gentleman that the two-states idea is the answer, but it is eroding on the ground and no one is doing anything—including our Government and the hon. Gentleman's party's Front Bench. No one is standing by international law, which says that the lands occupied in 1967 cannot be incorporated into Israel and should be the basis for a Palestinian state. That is the...

Olympics: Gaza (19 Jan 2009) has video

Clare Short: First, may I remind the Foreign Secretary that there was a ceasefire before, and the consequence was that Israel tightened and tightened the siege, then it started the bombing in early November that broke the ceasefire? Secondly, there is no peace process, because Israel keeps breaking the Geneva convention, building more settlements and the wall, and the roads are subject to closure. We will...

Gaza (15 Jan 2009) has video

Clare Short: The EU has a trade treaty with a human rights conditionality that gives Israel privileged access to our markets. Should we not just invoke the conditionality? That is serious leverage, and we should use it.