Paradise Golf Resort, Morocco

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I am pleased to have an opportunity to make a contribution, and I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) for securing tonight’s debate. We have been trying to obtain this debate for some time now.

This is a simple case of injustice affecting British citizens. We are talking about at least 200 people in the core group and perhaps a number of others spread across several constituencies, as we have heard. Indeed, I understand that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, take a keen interest in this matter yourself. Many of these people are retired, having given a lifetime of service to this country, and had hoped to secure part of their retirement funds by buying apartments that they could both enjoy in their retirement and perhaps realise a little extra income from through occasional lets. Many are retired doctors and nurses, and quite a number are former public sector workers. They have been battling on their own to secure these apartments or get their money back for about 11 years now. Some have died without seeing the situation resolved.

We are not talking about fantastically wealthy people. These people were attracted to the investment because of the security that it appeared to offer. As the right hon. Gentleman said, it was sold as part of the King of Morocco’s vision to attract tourism and investment. The land was Government land, the Moroccan Government selected the developer, and the various conventions that had to be signed in order for the development to proceed were signed by Government officials. Banque Centrale Populaire, which handled the financial transactions, was part Government-owned. Articles in the British press described this as a project backed by the Moroccan Government, and, as we heard, Moroccan officials even cited the development at a 2008 meeting in Paris to discuss the short and medium-term priority environmental action programme. Given all that backing, it is hard to imagine a safer investment.

One of the victims is my constituent Dr Saleem, a retired GP who has devoted his life to helping others, both here and in the developing world. He has already been the victim of a fraud over Tangiers City Apartments, which now appears to have involved some of the same people associated with Sirocco Estates and the Urbamed development company. He invested in the Atlantic Paradise golf and beach resort because he believed that it had the backing of the Government and the King of Morocco. He thought that his money was safe. Dr Saleem is in poor health. He may not live to enjoy the property if it is ever completed, but naturally what concerns him now is how he will provide for his wife and family should anything happen to him. It simply is not good enough for the same people to be involved in scams and dubious property transactions, and for the Moroccan authorities to try to wash their hands of the situation.

I am realistic, and I know that it is not within the gift of the Minister to resolve this matter. However, there are things that the British Government could do that would be appreciated by the people concerned. They could apply all possible pressure to the Moroccan authorities, making it clear that they must accept their responsibilities in relation to our citizens. I think that if something like this happened in our country, it would be inconceivable for us to allow the Government to simply walk away. The Moroccan authorities still have time to intervene and instruct another developer to complete the project, or secure compensation for our constituents, but they must be made to feel the maximum pressure.

Following this debate, investors will want to hear from the Minister that they have the full support of the British Government. All conceivable efforts must be made to help the Moroccan authorities to understand that there is a clear expectation on our part that they should bring this matter to a satisfactory and speedy conclusion, and that while it remains outstanding, there can be little prospect of British backing for future investment in Morocco or support for its tourism industry.

As the right hon. Gentleman said, the core group representing the investors has secured a meeting on 30 January before Judge Mustapha Fezzazi at the Cour d’appel in Tangiers. Will the Minister ensure that one of our consulate representatives in Morocco accompanies the group to the meeting, and demonstrates that it has the full support of the British government?

Budget Resolutions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

The most striking features of the Budget are the parts the Chancellor tried to ignore: growth and wages. After all we have been through, and after all the promises about long-term economic plans, austerity and building for the future, the reality is that average earnings will be no higher in 2022 than they were in 2007. We are heading for the worst decade for pay growth for 210 years. Given all the lectures from Conservative Members, it is worth pointing out that the Chancellor is now on target to borrow £30 billion more by 2020 than was predicted just a year ago. Apparently, it is okay to be in that position but still to lecture others about the dangers of borrowing to invest.

The greatest disappointment is that the Chancellor does not seem to recognise the impact of rising food prices, although 78% of my constituents who replied to my cost of living survey were worried about the failure of wages to keep pace with inflation, with 80% stressing the impact on family budgets of rising food prices. The Government also look very out of touch when it comes to funding the fight against crime, tackling social care—that was one area in which we might have expected progress after the fiasco of their manifesto—and recognising the plight of schools.

[Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Steve McCabe]

I will not, because we have only a short time left and other Members want to speak.

It is disappointing that the partial response to the problems with universal credit is being delayed. That issue was raised by 94% of people who responded to my survey. They will not understand why the Government are only cutting the waiting time to five weeks, or why we need to wait another three months for action, especially with all the pressures over Christmas. They certainly will not understand the continuing freeze on benefits. One way in which savings could be made would be to address the cost of work capability interviews for people who have long-established and well-documented illnesses that clearly leave them unable to work. Even those responsible for the assessments concede that this is a punitive and pointless exercise, with decisions often reversed at appeal after months of worry and suffering.

It is not all bad. I am hopeful about the industrial strategy and, on the back of today’s news about life sciences, I hope that Ministers will shortly come to Birmingham to announce support for Birmingham Health Partners and the Institute of Translational Medicine so that the extraordinary medical advances that are being pioneered there also become a focus for new jobs and industries. I also want more effort to boost our region’s skills base, which is crucial for the growth that our economy needs. I ask the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills to look at how we can ensure that those making large contributions to the apprenticeship levy, such as Cadbury in my constituency, get a fair return, and at how we use the levy more imaginatively to involve the self-employed and those in microbusinesses who, if freed from bureaucracy and costs, would be in a position to offer young people high-quality apprenticeships that will lead to real jobs in emerging areas.

Israel: Meetings

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Tuesday 7th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

The hon. Gentleman implied that my right hon. Friend had suddenly found a reason to go to Africa and disappear, and that is not fair.

If more information is needed, there is no reason why further questions may not be asked by means of written parliamentary questions or the like. Let me point out again, however, that a full statement and an apology were made by my right hon. Friend, who recognised that what she did was not in the right sequence, and gave the details of whom she saw. I am sure that, if colleagues seek more information, they will be responded to in the appropriate way.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I also have great respect for the right hon. Gentleman, but even he must concede that the more we hear about this affair, the murkier it sounds. May we have an assurance that DFID will publish a summary of all discussions that took place in the months prior to this holiday within the Department that had any connection to Israel or any organisations in Israel, and may we have a summary of all discussions that have taken place in the Department since the holiday?

[Alistair Burt]

The hon. Gentleman can ask these questions, but I have to say that DFID and the Foreign Office discuss issues relating to Israel and the occupied territories virtually all the time. It is a constant source of discussion as we look at both the long-standing issues between them and the aid we give to the west bank and Gaza in emergency appeals and for long-standing development programmes. That is all public and open and clear. If the hon. Gentleman would like to ask any further questions, he can do, but the information on these matters and the support that is given to the area is well known, and that policy has not changed in any way since my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State came back.

Iran

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Monday 16th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

I agree with that assessment. As I mentioned earlier, we have only to look at the situation in another part of the world where no such deal exists and where there is deep concern about the movement of a power towards nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing. The deal with Iran covers off that issue in an important state in a region that badly needs stability and needs all states to recognise their responsibilities to each other. Closing doors does not help. It is important that states are firm, clear and honest with each other. Not covering things up but always looking for an opportunity to seek change and development: that should be the product of conversations between states that want to achieve something.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Is it not true that one of the dominant voices in Iran is the Revolutionary Guard, the people who blocked the release of Nazanin Ratcliffe? However much we might worry about President Trump’s actions, would we not be mad to rely on the word and behaviour of the Revolutionary Guard for nuclear security, or anything else?

[Alistair Burt]

It is precisely because we do not need to rely on anyone’s word—we can rely on a deal verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and its work to verify the deal’s commitments—that we have been able to make progress on reducing the number of centrifuges, reducing the amount of stored uranium, reducing heavy water capacity and reducing Iran’s ability to create more. All those things are verifiable. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and I have mentioned the important distinction that this agreement is not based on each side trusting the word of the other; it is because of the very fact that words cannot always be trusted that there has to be something concrete and visible, and verified by independent parties, on which to proceed. That is what the deal is about. There are words that cannot be relied on in any international context, which is why agreements, and sticking to agreements, are so important.

Iran’s Influence in the Middle East

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Westminster Hall

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) on securing this debate. It was well worth waiting two weeks to hear his splendid speech. I agree with every word he said. He made all the points that I wished to make, so I shall now speak for the sake of it.

This is a very well attended debate—there are representatives here from all political parties. I say to my hon. Friend the Minister, who is a splendid chap, that I have listened for years to the same tired Foreign Office line being trotted out. Governments come and go, but the line is always the same—it is always one of appeasement. Let us be frank—at the heart of this issue is oil. It would be wonderful to hear from the Minister something positive about what the Government intend to do. I hope that he will also reflect on the so-called achievements of the former Labour Prime Minister as middle east peace envoy—I would really like to hear about that—and tell us how he thinks former President Obama, whom colleagues mentioned, and defeated presidential candidate Mrs Clinton handled the situation. My hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), who is not in his place, said that we hope for a different approach from the new President of America—although not through tweeting.

Iran’s influence in the middle east is dreadful. I will not repeat all the points that colleagues have made, but killing and torturing people is absolutely disgraceful. The hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) was absolutely spot on about the way Israel has been treated. Talking about wiping the state of Israel out of existence is absolutely disgraceful. I hope that the Minister will take seriously what Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said on 17 January 2017 about the Iranian regime.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I do not want to detain the hon. Gentleman, but is it not the case that we need to hear a change from the Government? They must give a clear signal that we are considering proscribing the revolutionary guards and that, as far as protecting our citizens, such as Nazanin Ratcliffe, is concerned, we will not negotiate but threaten sanctions unless Iran stops its illegal detention of innocent people.

[Sir David Amess]

The hon. Gentleman makes that point far better than I ever could, and I hope that the Minister, if we give him enough time, will comment on it.

I shall raise a constituency case. Mrs Ratcliffe, a charity worker accused of security offences, was detained while trying to leave Iran with her baby daughter after visiting relatives last year. She was accused of plotting to topple the Government in Tehran—an absolutely ridiculous claim—yet those charges were never made public. Her family denies that she broke any laws. Her two-year-old daughter has remained in Iran because the Government confiscated her passport, and in January this year a court in Iran rejected an appeal against the five-year prison sentence given to Mrs Ratcliffe. The regime does not recognise dual British and Iranian citizenship, meaning that she cannot be given consular assistance. I hope that the Minister will write to me about that case once his officials have looked at it.

It would be wonderful if we did not hear the same tired line of appeasement trotted out by the Foreign Office. At the heart of this is the Government’s worry that we will lose oil supply. Given that all political parties are represented in the Chamber and I doubt that anyone will stand up and say, “The Iranian regime is absolutely wonderful,” it would be good, at this extraordinary moment in the history of our country, to hear from the British Government that we intend to engage with like-minded countries and do something about the dreadful regime in Iran.

Budget Resolutions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

It has not taken long for the gloss to come off this Budget. We have learned just how clueless those in charge really are. The reckless national insurance blunder told us what we need to know about the Chancellor; they saw him coming as he fell for a classic Treasury bottom-drawer policy. In the old days, it could take at least until the weekend for a Budget to unravel, but this Chancellor seems to have set a new record by producing one that disintegrated before the day was out.

What is worrying about this dreadful performance is that it is beginning to look like a pattern. As each day passes, we learn that this Government make it up as they go along, with Ministers woefully unprepared and in some cases just not up to it. We have had the City Minister relieved of key duties and an Education Secretary who hides from the press, goes around closing schools and pretending that huge cuts in funding are fair, and thinks she can sell grammar schools by promising an easier 11-plus. The health service is on its knees, so the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is planning to take an extra £4.3 million in business rates from Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, and has not even had the time to discuss the implications with Health Ministers. One measure they should have announced is that they are going to treat NHS hospitals like their private counterparts and exempt them from business rates. At the head of this shambles, we have a Prime Minister without a mandate who thinks that as long as she repeats it often enough, people will believe her: no sweetheart deals, the Home Office getting more efficient, Brexit means Brexit. The more she repeats it, the more we see right through her. Even the Chancellor’s allies are describing her key aides as economically illiterate.

I acknowledge that the performance on the Labour Benches is not always good enough, and that may be partly responsible for the extraordinary complacency we are now witnessing from Conservative Members, but that is no reason for them to think that they can get away with providing the British people with second-rate government. It is quite incredible that in this non-event Budget the Chancellor had nothing to say about preparations for Brexit, especially as we learn that the Government are seriously contemplating crashing out of the EU without a satisfactory deal. That is not respecting the will of the British people—it is abusing the referendum result to embark on a reckless course that threatens people’s jobs and businesses large and small, and guarantees the most enormous hike in food prices.

When will this nonsense stop? When will we stop having to listen to the Foreign Secretary? I never thought I would be grateful to the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) for anything, but I am beginning to think he did us all one enormous favour. They cannot agree on anything. The Foreign Secretary thinks it will all be all right on the night, the International Trade Secretary warns that leaving without a deal will be a problem, and the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU says he is thinking about a back-up plan. It is like a live performance by the Three Stooges. Just how much longer are these people going to try pull the wool over our eyes?

This Budget could have been the opportunity to clarify some of the confusion over Government policy. They could have tried to sort out the mess on the apprenticeship levy before it is too late. They could have done something about energy prices, and the fiasco that if someone puts in a smart meter and then changes supplier, it has to be turned off. If they persist with this, that is £11 billion of Government money down the drain. There are plenty of things that they could have done in this Budget, but of course what is wrong with this Budget is that this Government do not know where they are from one day to the next.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ellwood]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I am grateful for the work that he has done in liaison with the family. I was able to meet Kamran Foroughi, the son, on 25 January. I spoke to Ambassador Baeidinejad about the case this morning and when I visited Tehran last month. I am pleased to see that Mr Foroughi is now going to receive the health test that he has been requesting, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is a case for clemency there that I hope will be answered.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Is anyone in the British Government able to make direct contact with the Iranian revolutionary guard, because they are the people who are arresting and falsely imprisoning our nationals? Surely if we are speaking only to the puppets in Tehran, no one from Britain is going to be safe to visit that country.

[Mr Ellwood]

I think we should be careful in the language we use. The Iranians, like those in many countries, do not recognise dual nationality, and therefore we have to conduct these matters with diplomacy. Our avenue with the Iranians, which was not there a couple of years ago, is through the Iranian Foreign Ministry and our interlocutors there. We have had communications from our Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, as I said, and now me, with our embassy opening as well.

UK Nationals Imprisoned Abroad

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2016 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Bruce]

It is now often the case that aid is not paid bilaterally to many countries. None the less, UK aid money is being spent in Ethiopia, as has been indicated by my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr Mathias).

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

While the hon. Lady is on the subject of aid, I wonder whether she had an opportunity on her visit to look at the MSc in security sector management. I understand it was initially funded through a Department for International Development programme and it appears that some of the people who were responsible for Mr Tsege’s detention had taken part.

[Robert Flello (in the Chair)]

Before the hon. Lady responds, I gently suggest that other Members wish to speak and that I will call the Front Benchers at half-past 10 o’clock.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) on securing the debate and giving such a succinct summary of the case. It seems to me that the crime committed by Andy Tsege is being an outspoken critic of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. I thought that we in this country encouraged that kind of behaviour, so I am not sure why, as the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) has just said, we are now accepting the Ethiopian version of events.

What is clear is that if the cornerstone of the British case is that Andy Tsege should be allowed access to legal representation, that has to mean more than just a list of lawyers that he may or may not still possess. The bottom line is that we would not expect any British citizen to get such poor support from the authorities. Will the Minister demand private access to Mr Tsege? Will he ensure proper legal representation? In fact, will he do what we would expect him to do for anybody and demand this man’s release?

Thinking back to the case of John McCarthy, what would have happened if we had all just sat back quietly and said nothing? Would McCarthy ever have been released? We must shout loudly and clearly that we are not putting up with that for Andy Tsege, or for Nazanin Ratcliffe. We expect our Government to protect our citizens, stand up for the rule of law and make it absolutely clear to regimes around the world that if they have no respect for human rights and the rule of law, they will get no favours from us.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ellwood]

First, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for organising, as former Africa Minister, the very conference that he mentioned on Somalia in 2012, which helped to galvanise international support for Somalia. He is absolutely right. We need to work on the governance structures, and a federated model has come to the fore. We need to support the AMISOM troops as well. There is much work to be done. Although al-Shabaab has been pushed out of the capital cities, it is still in the south of the country.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

While considering the security situation in Somalia, how does the Minister assess the role of Ethiopa, and what impact is the continued detention of British citizen Andy Tsege having on our relations with the Ethiopian regime?

[Mr Ellwood]

I am aware of the state of emergency that Ethiopia has introduced, and I will certainly look at the consular case that the hon. Gentleman raises and perhaps write to him with more details. However, I would pass on congratulations to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and the other countries that are providing forces and making an important contribution to the support and stability of Somalia.

Report of the Iraq Inquiry

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 13th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Alex Salmond (Gordon) (SNP)]

The parliamentary wounds of the Iraq war are still pertinent in today’s debate, but we should remember that they are as nothing compared with the wounds of the 179 families who lost servicepeople, the 23 British civilian staff who were killed, the 200,000 Iraqis and the thousands of American soldiers. The carnage in the middle east is still with us today—these wounds are still raw and open.

Like the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), I looked back at the debate on 18 March 2003, and I was struck by a number of things that we do not always remember. We all remember Robin Cook’s brilliant resignation speech of the day before, but we do not necessarily remember John Denham’s distinguished and measured contribution on the day of the debate.

The right hon. and learned Gentleman reminded us that public opinion at that stage was in favour of war, and those of us who spoke against it from the SNP, Plaid Cymru or Liberal Benches were not given a particularly easy time. I looked at the contribution that day of Charles Kennedy, who was barracked throughout his speech against war. “Chamberlain Charlie” was one of the more printable epithets, and the “toast of Baghdad” was flung at some of us who opposed the war.

I say that not just to make the point that Members such as the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe and others who argued against the war have been vindicated, but also to remind people of the nature and context of the debate we were engaged in. There are only 179 Members in this Parliament who were Members of Parliament on 18 March 2003; a little over a quarter of Members of this Parliament were present and voting in that debate. It is as well that people remember and understand the context if we are to understand the failings of parliamentary democracy—not of referendums, but of parliamentary democracy—that the votes on Iraq that day illustrated.

I have been checking the record, and I think I can honestly say that I do not think I have ever quoted The Times in 30 years in this place, off and on, but I will quote it today, because I thought its headline and first paragraph on the Chilcot report last Thursday absolutely hit the mark. Under the headline “Blair’s private war”, it wrote:

“Britain fought an unnecessary, disastrous and potentially illegal war in Iraq because of Tony Blair’s misguided and personal commitment to George W Bush, the Chilcot report concluded yesterday.”

It would be impossible to read the Chilcot report without looking at that personal level of accountability as well as the wider context of the legality.

The right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe started his speech by saying that this was not all about Tony Blair, but the rest of his speech illustrated why it is in fact very largely about Tony Blair. I want to quote from the executive summary of the Chilcot report, but these points are backed up enormously in the full report. On pages 58 and 59, Chilcot goes through the sequence of decision making between December 2001 and the immediate onset of the war. It would appear that if those decisions were the product of sofa government, it was a very small sofa indeed. Crucial decisions about the strategies and alliances involved were made by the Prime Minister and only a very few of his advisers. Chilcot finds that not even a Cabinet Committee discussed the crucial decisions listed on pages 58 and 59. The list starts with:

“The decision at the beginning of December 2001 to offer to work with President Bush on a strategy to deal with Iraq as part of Phase 2 of the ‘War on Terror’, despite the fact that there was no evidence of any Iraqi involvement with the attacks on the United States or active links to Al Qaida.”

It goes right through to:

“A review of UK policy at the end of February 2003 when the inspectors had found no evidence of WMD and there was only limited support for the second resolution in the Security Council.”

All those crucial decisions were made without reference even to a Cabinet Sub-Committee and without a range of colleagues in the Cabinet being consulted.

When the former Deputy Prime Minister concluded last weekend—in a way that Chilcot was not allowed to do, either because of his remit or because of the lack of specialisms on the inquiry—that the war was illegal and apologised for it, he should actually have been apologising for the fact that all this was allowed to happen through a sequence of decisions taken over 15 months by one individual, the Prime Minister, and his advisers without any account being taken of any kind of collective responsibility.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Does Chilcot not also say that that form of government should be described as a “professional forum”, and that it should not be regarded as just advisers and cronies? Was not that the specific point of the evidence that Lord Turnbull gave to Chilcot?

[Alex Salmond]

I am dealing with the findings of Chilcot—

[Steve McCabe]

So am I.

[Alex Salmond]

The report states:

“The Inquiry considers that there should have been a collective discussion by a Cabinet Committee or small group of Ministers on the basis of inter-departmental advice agreed at a senior level between officials on a number of decision points”.

That is in paragraph 409 on page 58, if that helps the hon. Gentleman.

[Steve McCabe]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Alex Salmond]

I have answered the hon. Gentleman’s question. If he will let me continue, perhaps I will give way again later—

[Steve McCabe]

In paragraph 402—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We cannot conduct debate with people yelling from a sedentary position in a disorderly manner, and the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) must not do that. If the right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) wants to give way later, he will, and if he does not, he will not. We will see how things go.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I remember the events that we are discussing very well. They took place during my second Parliament as an MP, and they were not really the sort of stuff that I thought I had come here for. I remember how seriously people in and around the House discussed the issues in the run-up to the vote. I recall intense debates with colleagues and friends both inside and outside Parliament and, of course, I recall friends coming to different conclusions. According to my recollection, no one treated the issue lightly, and I do not think there is anyone who does not regret the loss of life. However, as one of those who were here at the time, and as someone who voted for the war, I take the view that we must all take some of the responsibility. We must bear some collective responsibility.

The only Cabinet resignation that I recall was that of the late Robin Cook. All the others stood firm and stayed on board, so they had a collective responsibility as well. While I understand that some folk are desperate to pin all this on one man, it is hard to see how that stands up in those circumstances. Of course there are legitimate criticisms and lessons to be learned, and I certainly accept the point about “sofa” versus Cabinet government, but Lord Turnbull actually said that he was talking about a style of government, and he also said in evidence that it was a “professional forum” and he was not talking about a bunch of advisers and cronies getting together. He was very clear about that, but it was not the impression that was given earlier.

Obviously one of the big lessons is about intelligence. I acknowledge that the Government have taken a significant step forward in that regard, but it is appalling to think that M16 knew that one of its principal sources of intelligence was a fraud, and chose not to share that with the Government before the vote. We should never let that sort of thing happen again. As for war planning and post-invasion planning, and what we have just heard about equipment, there are clear lessons to be learned, but they are not just lessons for politicians. They are lessons for intelligence officers, for the Ministry of Defence, and for senior military figures.

Part of the purpose of the Chilcot report is to enable us all to learn lessons. The tragedy is that if it is reduced simply to an attempt to pin it all on one man, we will not learn many lessons. If, after 13 years, the best outcome is a contempt motion, where will we end up? Will we end up back here saying, “What about the late Baroness Thatcher? We have found out some more details about the Belgrano”—or the Gibraltar assassinations—“so let us table a motion on that”? Will we end up saying that the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) should be hauled back because of some new revelation, or apparent revelation, about Libya? I do not think that that is what we should be trying to do.

I recognise that Tony Blair is a Marmite figure, but we did have a parliamentary vote to go to war. It was not all down to him. Nowhere in the report does Chilcot accuse him of misleading Parliament, and I really do not think that we should use this House to try to settle old scores or enmities. We should be better than that. We need to recognise the risk that will be posed in the future, when there are difficult choices to be made, if we get this wrong. Real political leadership is not about settling scores, scoring points or addressing rallies; it is about taking really tough and difficult decisions. We should be very careful in our response to Chilcot, because if we get this wrong, we could put ourselves in a situation where the new Prime Minister, and any future Prime Minister, will be frightened to make a brave decision.

It is possible to make a brave choice and make the wrong choice, and we all know with the benefit of hindsight that there are elements of the Iraq situation that we would deal with differently, but if we turn this into a simple exercise of trying to pin the blame on one man in order to settle longstanding scores, we will do nothing to advance our ability to deal with difficult conflict situations in the future. This House needs to be bigger than that.