As the House debated the Chilcot report, it was hard not to look round the Chamber and reflect how many MPs were not members when the Commons voted on whether to commit British forces to the conflict in Iraq. But the two party leaders were there then. David Cameron voted for the war, Jeremy Corbyn did not.
Cameron took the House through the Chilcot report’s conclusions in a measured, non-partisan way. He ended by urging the country not to jettison the special relationship, confidence in the intelligence agencies and an appreciation that military intervention can be effective following Iraq and the failures detailed in this report.
Then came Jeremy Corbyn. Beforehand, there had been much talk of how Corbyn would make this all about Tony Blair. But he did not: he did not even mention the former Prime Minister by name. He did, however, say that the House of Commons had been misled and that the House now needed to decide what to do about it.
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