Winston Churchill was right: Parliament should vote on war

Iain Duncan Smith marked his first anniversary as Leader of the Opposition by calling for a "substantive" vote in the House of Commons on Iraq. Never mind the obvious jibe that this would allow his party to record precisely how strongly it supports the Government, Mr Duncan Smith is right in principle.

In a matter so grave as the decision to launch military action in which British service personnel are likely to lose their lives, there ought to be a vote by representatives of the people. It is a standing affront to democracy in this country that the power to make war is jealously hoarded by the Prime Minister in the name of Crown prerogative.

It may be objected that it makes little difference in practice. There was no vote explicitly authorising British military engagement in Korea, Suez, the Falklands, the Gulf, Kosovo or Sierra Leone, but if there had been, there would have been no doubt about the outcome on any occasion.

However, there is a moral difference. As Winston Churchill said when, as opposition leader, he urged Clement Attlee to hold a vote on Korea in 1950: "It is better to have a division so everyone can know how the House of Commons stands, and in what proportion."

Not only that, it is right that MPs ought to be able to vote on forms of words that set out the conditions of their support for military action or the reasons for their opposition. That is why Tony Blair is wrong to ask the House, when it is recalled on 24 September, to debate an unspecific motion to adjourn. That was the device by which 44 MPs were able to express their opposition to the Gulf War against Iraq in December 1990, the month before the bombing started.

Robin Cook, Labour's business manager in the Commons, has cleverly drawn attention to the fact that Mr Blair asked MPs to vote on a motion explicitly authorising the use of force against Iraq in February 1998. Mr Cook glosses over the fact that the mandate was used in different circumstances in Operation Desert Fox 10 months later, and that there was no vote on Kosovo or Sierra Leone. But he, and Mr Duncan Smith, are right in principle. Not just on 24 September, but when the position of the United Nations is decided, we should know "how the House of Commons stands and in what proportion".