Commons motion to impeach Blair gets go-ahead

[cal04]

The parliamentary motion to impeach Tony Blair for "gross misconduct" over the war against Iraq will be published next Wednesday, the day after the Queen's speech. It will be the first to be tabled in 198 years, since Lord Melville, a close friend of the then prime minister, William Pitt the younger, faced impeachment for misusing public money in running the Admiralty.

Senior parliamentary officials, including legal advisers to the Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, on Wednesday night approved the wording of the text as meeting parliamentary rules, allowing the motion to be tabled on the first day of the new session. The Tory chief whip, David Maclean, has paged every Tory frontbench MP telling them not to sign it.

The Liberal Democrats are divided, with Jenny Tonge, the MP for Richmond, among those supporting the idea and Sir Menzies Campbell, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, strongly opposing it. No Labour MP is expected to sign the motion for fear of losing the party whip for bringing the leader into disrepute.

The motion, which was drawn up by Douglas Hogg, the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham and son of the former Tory lord chancellor Lord Hailsham, is attracting support among backbench MPs who would not normally support the same cause.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1354680,00.html

[cubsfan forever]

1. Couldn't have happened to a more

deserving, spineless poodle, except for Mr. Faux Texan. :puke:

Professor 2

[Massacure]

2. Bwuahah - Titanium melts eventually

It looks like the House of Commons is really getting a good torch going.

[astroboy]

3. WAIT!

i thought it was ALL in our heads and that we needed to STOP whining :shrug:

uh oh, is this thing CONTAGIOUS, TOO :faint:

[zann725]

16. Could be an omen...

n/t

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[astroboy]

5. exhale

[Warpy]

6. I doubt it will happen

but if it does, let's hope it's contagious.

[TexasChick]

7. Take that Bliar! n/t

[arcos]

8. William Pitt was PM 198 years ago?

I didn't know he was so old!

;)

[Sparkly]

14. Amazing what they can do these days.

He looks good. ;)

[0007]

21. William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806)

"Most his supporters admired and obeyed him but were not drawn to him personally. Men found him stiff and unbending. Pitt had few intimate friends but he did enjoy company; he spent a great deal of his spare time with younger MPs. Together they indulged in practical jokes, horse-play and bouts of heavy drinking. Almost the whole of Pitt's life was spent in parliament; he was Prime Minister for almost nineteen years out of a parliamentary career lasting twenty-five years. He was always in debt; he drank heavily and probably died of renal failure and cirrhosis of the liver at the age of forty-six.."

[Domitan]

9. Hallelujah!

May Bliar sink and have Bush follow him very soon!

[quiet.american]

10. Hmn...

Sound and fury, which will, in the name of politics, end up signifying nothing, most likely.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

11. I pray for Tony's timely removal from office!

[GetTheRightVote]

12. Hurray for England - Well we were fashioned after them ...

We need to impeach our own dictator, Mr. Bush, up front for you punishment now. You have been a very, very bad little man .....

[lizzieforkerry]

13. So I don't know anything about the Parliament

How many votes does it need? Will it be close?

[magellan]

17. Impeachment in the UK

After the motion to impeach is tabled, the Speaker of the House will almost certainly call for a debate, during which Blair will be questioned. When that spectacle concludes a vote is called. There are 659 MPs in the House of Commons. A majority must pass the motion to impeach for it to move on to the House of Lords, but that's unlikely to happen -- Blair has already survived a round of questioning on the subject of Iraq, and any Labour MP who backs the impeachment motion risks expulsion from the party if it fails.

At worst, Blair will again find himself in the uncomfortable position of having to publicly defend his decision to follow * into Iraq. And notwithstanding the very serious procedure being levied against him, public castigation seems to be the main intent. I wish we could force * into a similar position here...defending himself on the question of Iraq before the cameras...ALONE....

[DavidDvorkin]

15. Interesting that the Conservatives won't support it.

Does that mean that they think they have a better chance in the next election with Blair as PM? At one time, they were supposed to want to face Brown, feeling that they had a better chance again him.

[pig.]

18. think maybe they were waiting

for the American's reaction to the election here first? Bush and Blair have been buddy buddy so now that england knows only half the country is behind bush - an i'm sure they know even more than we do here - and the monarchy knows that the power is really in the people. maybe they know Bush is going to be impeached... wow that would be nice.

anyway. thoughts on this?

[newyawker99]

22. Hi pig.!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[lovuian]

19. England knows this is the only way to get Blair out

and its beginning!!!

Blair is majorly cooked but he will have a nice plush job somewhere in the Corporate World of America helped by Bush Family!!!

[Englander]

20. Impeach Blair- the website....www.impeachblair.org/

http://www.impeachblair.org/

[The Flaming Red Head]

24. I love how this is going to make Bush look in the eyes of the world.

Impeachment Motion - Conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the war against Iraq

That a select committee of not more than 13 Members be appointed to investigate and to report to the House on the conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the war against Iraq and in particular to consider;

(a) the conclusion of the Iraq Survey Group that in March 2003 Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction and had been essentially free of them since the mid 1990s

(b) the Prime Minister’s acknowledgement that he was wrong when in and before March 2003 he asserted that Iraq was then in possession of chemical or biological weapons or was then engaged in active efforts to develop nuclear weapons or was thereby a current or serious threat to the UK national interest or that possession of WMD then enabled Iraq to inflict real damage upon the region and the stability of the world

(c) the opinion of the Secretary General of the United Nations that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was unlawful

(d) whether there exist sufficient grounds to impeach the Rt Hon Tony Blair on charges of gross misconduct in his advocacy of the case for war against Iraq and in his conduct of policy in connection with that war.

That the Committee shall within 48 days of its appointment report to this House such resolutions, articles of impeachment or other recommendations as it shall think fit.

[goobergunch]

23. kick

:kick:

[bvar22]

25. This is why I want the Democrats to file for IMPEACHMENT.

It doesn't matter if we have the votes to win.

FUCK bush* and the NeoCon dirt machine!!

I am in favor of ANYTHING we can throw under the wheels to slow this monster down. Make bush* and friends take time to defend the indefensible...go on the record UNDER OATH!

[Obviousman]

27. I agree

Do you think if the democrats made a move like that it would be a way to fire up the base for midterms? Or at the very least, use timing to humiliate bush?

[Caledonia]

26. I doubt this will go through

Blair always seems to come up smelling of roses, no matter what he does. On saying that, I live in a strong Labour seat and the disapproval of his conduct regarding Iraq over the past two years has lost him a lot of respect and, more importantly, votes.

There is nothing I would like better than Blair to be impeached, but decent replacements are thin on the ground.