Local MP Sir Robert Smith quizzes Gordon Brown on Iraq and Afghanistan

2.00.00pm GMT Tue 15th Dec 2009

Local MP Sir Robert Smith quizzed Gordon Brown on the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts in the House of Commons yesterday.

Addressing a busy House of Commons, Sir Robert asked:

"Does the Prime Minister recognise that he does not need an inquiry to know that his "thank you" to the British troops would be all the stronger if it contained an apology, to them and to the people of Afghanistan, for the failure to resource the war there properly in the early years because of the folly of going to war in Iraq on a false prospectus?"

Sir Robert was speaking in a debate on Afghanistan following the Prime Minister's visit to the country last weekend.

Sir Robert voted against the war in Iraq and had pressed the government to hold a focused debate on Afghanistan before the Christmas recess.

Speaking after the debate, Sir Robert said :

"From my own experiences in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is clear that the Iraq War diverted vital resources and political attention from following through the consequences of removing the Taliban regime.

This has made the current work of our armed forces all the more difficult."