http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1631000/1631501.stm
Thursday, 1 November, 2001, 20:35 GMT
MPs rebel over war vote



A total of 13 MPs voted on a technicality in what was
described as a symbolic move to register protest
against the war.

Welsh and Scottish nationalists joined with the rebels
for the vote.

The government has argued
there is no need to allow a
vote directly on the issue of
the military campaign as the
vast majority of MPs support
the action.

In the end 373 MPs
supported the Labour
leadership.

But the rebel MPs still hope
that their move will increase
the pressure on the
government to allow a full
Commons vote.

Opening the debate on the
military campaign, Defence
Secretary Geoff Hoon
challenged those opposed to military action to say what
they would do to counter the "very, very, very real"
terror threat.

"We are right to take military action, we simply have no
choice," Mr Hoon told MPs.

The defence secretary said the campaign was effectively
"degrading" Taleban and terrorist military capabilities.

Targeted action

And he tried to allay fears
over the use of "carpet
bombing", which he said
was an inaccurate term for
what was in fact carefully
targeted action.

Mr Hoon faced down
complaints too over the use
of cluster bombs, which had
one MP arguing: "Even a
just cause can be
jeopardised by using unjust
weapons."

The minister said the
bombs were not land mines
and it was right to use them
against certain targets.

But during what were often bad tempered exchanges a
series of Labour MPs attacked the policy of bombing.

One of the rebels, George Galloway, said: "You wouldn't
think, listening to the secretary of state for defence,
that more than half of the population of the country
want the bombing to stop now so that humanitarian aid
could be flooded in."

He said there was great unease and opposition to the
war and he called for a pause in bombing during the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Another MP, Brian Sedgemore attacked Prime Minister
Tony Blair's tone in talking about the action.

"He should stop being so damned preachy about the
alleged moral superiority of this backward, fractious
island of ours off the coast of north west Europe whose
culture sometimes seems to me to be close to
irreversible decline,"

"He should realise, thank God, that everyone doesn't
want to be British."

Shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin stressed the
full support of the Conservatives for the military action.

Linking action to security

Mr Jenkin welcomed Tony Blair's "unambiguous"
reiteration of the campaign's fundamental purpose,
made in a speech earlier this week.

But he raised concerns about government media
briefings about the military campaign.

He said that the public would "hate the idea that
ministers may be feeding speculation, might actually
help the enemy and even put the lives of British
servicemen at risk".

"This is not like managing the media for the usual
domestic political agenda. Our adage should be 'less is
more'.

"The less the government says about our plans, the
more confidence people are likely to have that the right
decisions are being made."

Cluster bombs

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies
Campbell urged the government to be cautious over the
use of cluster bombs against Afghanistan.

He acknowledged the weapons could be extremely
effective against some military targets but there was
"no disguising the revulsion with which they are
regarded by many in the UK".

"Sometimes it's worth giving up a military capability,
because the benefits of the political advantage are so
substantial as to outweigh any military advantage that
may be discarded," he said