Blair won't give parliament vote on
Reuters.
[Alternative title: Whaddaya think this is? A democracy or somethin'?]
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will not tie his hands by offering parliament a vote on possible military action against Iraq, a minister said on Sunday.
Ben Bradshaw, deputy leader of the House of Commons, said
Blair would consult parliamentarians -- many of whom have urged him not to back
any
"No prime minister in British history has ever allowed their hands to be tied like that and none would," Bradshaw told Sky News television.
"It is not realistic that a prime minister is going to have to seek a vote before he or she deploys forces."
Bradshaw was speaking afer a poll published on Sunday
suggested more than half of Britons would oppose the deployment of British
troops in a U.S.-led military campaign against
The survey of 1,763 people published in the Sunday Times showed that 49 percent believe Blair has become the "puppet" of Bush.
Veteran Labour left-winger Tony Benn, who left parliament
after last year's election, warned Blair on Sunday that military action would
make
"A war with Iraq, which would certainly also alienate Russia and China and many of our European partners, could cost Tony Blair his job, undermine public support for the government as a whole, inflict untold suffering on millions -- and must be stopped," he wrote in the right-wing Mail on Sunday newspaper.
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