Upside Down World

Tory MP urges Iraq troop pull-out

A senior Conservative MP has called for British troops to withdraw from Iraq - going against his party's policy.

Michael Ancram, writing in the Daily Mail, says Iraq is effectively in a state of civil war and because of that, troops should be pulled out.

Downing Street said British troops would stay in Iraq until they had "finished the job" of bringing democracy to the country.

Conservative policy is also that troops should stay as long as necessary.

But Mr Ancram, former shadow foreign secretary and deputy Conservative leader, said: "It is time now for us to get out of Iraq with dignity and honour while we still can."

Mr Ancram said Britain must "not take sides between Sunnis and Shias".

"It has always been evident that in the event of civil war we should just get out," he said.

What is the world comming to when a posh Tory MP like Mr. Ancram is advocating rather sensibly withdrawal from Iraq? Politics has really turned upside down these days!

Michael Ancram is my hometown of Devizes's MP. He is married to Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard (a daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk).