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Valerie Davey's war voting record - Peter Goodwin, 7 April 2005

To: Bristol Evening Post

Dear Sir

May I correct your report on the controversy surrounding Valerie Davey's war voting record. You dismissed the final House of Commons vote (Division 118 on 18th March 2003), on which the Bristol West MP abstained, as a mere 'procedural' motion. Not so. This was the decision by the House of Commons to give Tony Blair authority to take this country to war with Iraq, to remove those imaginary weapons of mass destruction. Every abstention increased the majority for war by one vote.

In the event, 63% of all MPs supported war; 23% voted against, while the remaining 14%, including Valerie Davey and Doug Naysmith, did nothing - although earlier that day both had supported a vote stating that the case for war was not yet established. The full details are on the Bristol Green Party's website.

In a way, though, it's immaterial today whether these two ditherers are really 'doves' (like Kingswood's Roger Berry) or 'hawks' (like Dawn Primarolo and Jean Corston). As long as they're wearing red rosettes, their election will bring Tony Blair back to power - like it or not, he's part of the package that comes with every Labour vote in every constituency. And viewed from Washington or Kabul, Tony Blair's re-election will show emphatically that the British have no regrets about the war.

Green voters, on the other hand, will be backing candidates who don't have a hawk hidden in the baggage.

Yours

Peter Goodwin
Press Officer, Bristol Green Party