On August 26th 2004, a cross-party group of British MPs announced their intention to impeach the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair for high crimes and misdemeanours.

A Case to Answer

In August 2004, Adam Price MP commissioned and published the report: A Case to Answer: a first report on the potential impeachment of the Prime Minister for High Crimes and Misdemeanours in relation to the invasion of Iraq. The document was written by Dr Glen Rangwala (lecturer of politics at University of Cambridge) and Dan Plesch (Honorary Fellow of Birkbeck College, University of London.) The report is 111 pages and divided into two sections.

Section I

The first part of the report details evidence for charges that an MP could use when moving for impeachment. The evidence detailed by the report suggest that Tony Blair:

• made unsupported statements to the house and the public;
• failed to report counter-evidence;
• failed to verify claims in the evidence;
• failed to remove errors found in the evidence; and
• made a secret agreement with US President George W. Bush to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Section II

The second part examines the history of impeachment proceedings and looks at the possibility of bringing impeachment proceedings in modern government. It also gives the impeachable offences for which Tony Blair must offer a defence:

• failing to resign after misleading parliament and the country;
• making a secret agreement with a foreign power;
• undermining the constitution; and
• negligence and incompetence.

Finally, it give precedents for considering the conduct of a Prime Minister.

Legal Opinion

The campaign hired solicitor Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers to represent their case. They have also asked Matrix Law chambers to draw up a legal opinion. Matrix is famous for its advocacy of human rights cases and because they are the chambers of Blair's wife, Cherie Blair QC. Cherie was not involved in the case due to the obvious conflict of interest.

Both A Case To Answer and the legal opinion are now also available in printed form (ISBN 0-85124-704-0) although the only current source is at Spokesman Books.

Drafting Team

The drafting team for the motion was announced on 13 October 2004:

• Douglas Hogg QC MP
• Edward Garnier QC MP
• Elfyn Llwyd MP
• Alex Salmond MP

It appears that the team will also draft the articles of impeachment. In earlier impeachment cases, this has usually been done after the motion, although it also occurred first in the case of Warren Hastings.

The drafting team completed the text of the impeachment motion on 7 November 2004. The legal advisors to the speaker approved the wording of the motion on 17 November 2004. The motion is tabled for the first day of the next session (the day after the Queen's Speech) on 24 November 2004.

The Motion

Impeachment Motion - Conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the war against Iraq

That a select committee of not more than 13 Members be appointed to investigate and to report to the House on the conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the war against Iraq and in particular to consider;

(a) the conclusion of the Iraq Survey Group that in March 2003 Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction and had been essentially free of them since the mid 1990s

(b) the Prime Minister’s acknowledgement that he was wrong when in and before March 2003 he asserted that Iraq was then in possession of chemical or biological weapons or was then engaged in active efforts to develop nuclear weapons or was thereby a current or serious threat to the UK national interest or that possession of WMD then enabled Iraq to inflict real damage upon the region and the stability of the world

(c) the opinion of the Secretary General of the United Nations that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was unlawful

(d) whether there exist sufficient grounds to impeach the Rt Hon Tony Blair on charges of gross misconduct in his advocacy of the case for war against Iraq and in his conduct of policy in connection with that war.

That the Committee shall within 48 days of its appointment report to this House such resolutions, articles of impeachment or other recommendations as it shall think fit.

Support

MPs calling for impeachment debate

Other supporters

• The green party
• Stop the War Coalition
• Lord Murray
• Jimmy Reid
• Frederick Forsyth
• Terry Jones
• Harold Pinter
• Iain Banks
• Brian Eno
• Corin Redgrave

Campaign

Official web site

Adam Price MP stated that he wanted the public to feel involved in the campaign, so the domain impeachblair.org was registered and a site was set up to provide resources and channel feedback.

On 24 November 2004 (the same day that the motion was tabled) the web site's original hosting company unexpectedly pulled the plug. The hosting company, 49pence, said they removed the site due to reports of spam. In reaction, the campaign registered the new name impeachblair.net. However the site's administrators say that 500 petition signatures have been lost.

The site carries published documents, an online petition, news, and encourages members of the public to ask their own MPs to support the campaign.

Card your MP

In mid October, when parliament returned after the break, the campaign asked supporters to card their local MP to increase the political support. Supporters are asked to send a postcard containing the words "impeach Blair" and their name and address to their MP.

Internet resources

NewsNow currently has a dedicated channel gathering stories world wide on the impeachment campaign.

Public Reaction

On Wednesday, 26th of August, Channel 4's seven o'clock news broadcast a story on the impeachment campaign. By Thursday evening the web server had crashed due to the high traffic. During the first weekend, over 10,000 copies of the report were downloaded via the web site.

Labour Reaction

Tam Dalyell, Labour Party MP for Linlithgow is quoted as saying:

“I was sent the document. I read it very carefully. It's easy just to dismiss it and say the whole thing is preposterous. But as a document I think it requires refutation in some detail. What they have produced is a perfectly serious document that makes a coherent case.

“But if I and other Labour MPs endorsed it, there would be a terrible row about treachery. One would be labelled as a traitor and have to defend oneself. I don't mind being called a traitor, but I don't think it would help much.

“I have been quite open in saying I want the Prime Minister to go because of Iraq. I made a speech during the debate on the Butler Report last month in which I said he should resign. Downing Street is trying to close down the impeachment attempt by dismissing it as a joke.”

External links

• Official site
• NewsNow news feed