Anti-War Ammendment Beaten but with Sizeable Labour Rebellion (UK)

BBC ^ | 03/18/2003 | BBC

[Naspino]

Watching the live video. They just voted on an anti-war ammendment but it was beaten 396-217; most of the no's of course coming from Blair's party. I have incredible respect for Blair. It would be like Clinton standing with the Republicans; unheard of -- but he's doing it.

[Dog Gone]

Somehow, winning by almost a 2-1 margin in British Parliament is considered a near defeat.

[OPS4]

That would be if you were Pro Blair or not.
Apparently the person mixing words here is a commie!

Ops4 God Bless America!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

I still think Bush either has something on Blair (pictures, or the like) or otherwise imtimidated him into cooperating. Either way, I don't care, the UK is with us.

[xm177e2]

Losing the support of half his party is a big deal. Does anyone know the exact breakdown of the Labour MPs' votes?

[MoralSense]

That's a parliamentary system for you -- it's the Labourites who elect Blair to leadership, and they can depose him from that position, while maintaining their majority in the House of Commons.

[Naspino]

165 Labour MPS had to rebel before Blair had to rely on Tory votes.

It seems 139 rebelled.

[Naspino]

"Blair suffers Iraq revolt"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2862325.stm

The real vote is still coming.

[Semper911]

Ivan, I know you probably already know about this, but I wanted to ping you to a Brit thread for a change!

Thanks to our British friends and to Tony, standing tall and winning.

[Teacher317]

Yep... I disagree with most of his political beliefs, but he is showing that he CAN make intelligent principled stands in the face of the overwhelming opposition of his friends. The mark of very strong character, in children (usually referred to as peer pressure) and in adults. Reminds me of Moynihan... a Good Man. He is also showing exactly how important the UK's alliance with America truly is (at a time when it is exceedingly important to us diplomatically), which says quite a bit about the nation's, as well as the man's, loyalty.

[Jumper]

Two-thirds of Britians politicans supported Blair.... If American could even once get a two thirds majority in a hottly contested debate, it would mark the end of the losing political party:) And the media told us that France would Veto NATO, but then France was shown the door when the vote in Burssels came up because France is a non-voting military member (Still waiting for the media to explain that one too).

Congrat's to PM Blair!

[fortcollins]

The democrat party in the United States is easily as strongly against the war as is Labour in the UK. In this country the democrats should henceforth be referred to as Copperheads because they, especially Dashole, are as deadly as were the democrats during the Civil war

[Naspino]

412 - 149

UK endorses war with Iraq.

[Huggybear VT]

412-149... the second vote to support war has passed

[L`enn]

If only our Democratic party would be more like Blair, we could disagree with them on policy issues with honor.

[Cicero]

Good news. I'm glad the Tories got their heads screwed on right on this issue. It would have been very damaging to the country and their party if they had undermined Blair.

Blair went along with Bush because he put his country first, and the Special Relationship with the U.S. is incredibly important to England as a counterweight to bloodymindedness coming from the Continent. I don't know how much he personally favors the war, but he certainly favors the alliance with America.

[waspguy]

The fact that Blair didn't have to rely on Tory support is the key I think. He would have survived the vote even with out their crossing the aisle.

Apparently this has been made out to be a tempest in a tea cup.

Does anyone remember the vote totals when Congress authorized the first Gulf War?

[ambrose]

Somehow, winning by almost a 2-1 margin in British Parliament is considered a near defeat.

Under Britain's parliamentary system, it is. The PM owes his job to his party - and once he loses the support of the majority of his party, he's as good as gone.

[Maeve]

And that is total defeat for Blair's opponent's in the Labour Party. Au revoir, Robin Cook!

Blair and Straw gave brilliant speeches today.