The
Military Action Against Iraq (Parliamentary Approval) Bill was a
private member's billA private member's bill or a legislative motion is a proposed law introduced by a backbencher, a so-called private member of parliament...
introduced into the United Kingdom House of Commons by
Tam DalyellSir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell , is a Scottish politician, was a Labour member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005....
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
under the
Ten Minute RuleThe Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure in the British Parliament for the introduction of Private Member's Bills in addition to the 20 per session normally permissible....
. It received its formal first reading on 26 January 1999. The bill sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
from the monarch to
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
. The
long titleThe long title is one of the parts, together with the short title, and the operative provisions , which comprise an Act of Parliament or Bill in the United Kingdom and other countries with Westminster-based political systems...
of the bill was
a Bill to require the prior approval, by a simple majority of the House of Commons, of military action by United Kingdom forces against Iraq.
The
Military Action Against Iraq (Parliamentary Approval) Bill was a
private member's billA private member's bill or a legislative motion is a proposed law introduced by a backbencher, a so-called private member of parliament...
introduced into the United Kingdom House of Commons by
Tam DalyellSir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell , is a Scottish politician, was a Labour member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005....
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
under the
Ten Minute RuleThe Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure in the British Parliament for the introduction of Private Member's Bills in addition to the 20 per session normally permissible....
. It received its formal first reading on 26 January 1999. The bill sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
from the monarch to
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
. The
long titleThe long title is one of the parts, together with the short title, and the operative provisions , which comprise an Act of Parliament or Bill in the United Kingdom and other countries with Westminster-based political systems...
of the bill was
a Bill to require the prior approval, by a simple majority of the House of Commons, of military action by United Kingdom forces against Iraq. It was presented by Tam Dalyell and supported by
Tony BennAnthony "Tony" Neil Wedgwood Benn , formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, is a British, democratic socialist politician, and the current President of the Stop the War Coalition....
,
Harry CohenHarry Michael Cohen is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead.-Early life:...
,
Jeremy CorbynJeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament for Islington North.He has been in the House of Commons since he won his seat at the 1983 general election. An old boy of Adams' Grammar School in Shropshire, he is a hard left member of the Labour Party and is in...
,
George GallowayGeorge Galloway is a British politician, author and broadcaster, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, and is particularly known for his anti-war views...
,
Neil GerrardNeil Francis Gerrard British politician He is the Labour Member of Parliament for Walthamstow.-Early life:Gerrard was born in Farnworth, Lancashire and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford where he was awarded a BA degree in natural science in 1964...
,
Dr Ian GibsonIan Gibson is a British politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Norwich North and currently holds the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds...
,
John McAllionJohn McAllion is a former Labour Party convener of Tayside Regional Council, MP and MSP and campaigner for Oxfam in Scotland...
,
Alice MahonAlice Mahon is an English former Labour Party politician and trade unionist.She was Member of Parliament for Halifax from 1987 until 2005. She is a left-winger who was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and is a Eurosceptic...
, Robert Marshall-Andrews,
Dennis SkinnerDennis Edward Skinner is a British politician who has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Bolsover since 1970. He is nicknamed 'the Beast of Bolsover' because of his rebellious and curmudgeonly reputation....
and
Audrey WiseAudrey Wise was a British Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament for Preston from 1987 until her death....
.
The
billA bill is a proposed new law introduced for debate within a legislature. Even after a bill has been passed by the legislature, it is still formally called a "bill"...
became Bill 35 in the 1998/1999 Parliamentary session, and was initially scheduled for second reading on 16 April 1999. As a bill modifying the
monarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
's
prerogative powersThe Royal Prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the Sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
,
the Queen'sElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
consent was required before it could be debated in Parliament. This is an instance of one situation in which more direct monarchical assent than the rather technical
Royal AssentThe granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of lawmaking by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. While the power to withhold Royal Assent was once exercised often, it is exceedingly rare in the modern, democratic...
is required for a bill to become an
Act of ParliamentAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
.
The Queen, acting upon the advice of her government, refused to grant her consent for the introduction of the bill. The second reading was initially postponed from 16 April until 23 July 1999. Due to the
CrownThe Crown is a corporation sole that in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof, represents the legal embodiment of executive government...
's continuing refusal to signify its consent to the bill, it could not receive its second reading on 23 July 1999. In the absence of a request for a further postponement, the bill was automatically dropped before it obtained its second reading.
When
military action against IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq, was led by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland and Spain. Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 20 to May 1...
was eventually organized in 2003, the government sought
Parliamentary approvalThe Parliamentary approval for the invasion of Iraq was given by the elected members of the British House of Commons to Tony Blair's government on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq in a series of two votes on 18 March 2003.-Constitutional background:...
on 18 March 2003, one day before the invasion began, although no powers under the royal prerogative were thereby transferred to Parliament.
Further reading
- Erskine May, Parliamentary Practice (2004), page 605, ISBN 0-406-97094-7