In the UK the most recent previous impeachment motion was made in 1848. The campaigners first needed to establish that impeachment was still viable in modern politics. On 17 November 2004 the speaker ruled their motion in order and it was tabled for the next session.
Initial presentation
In August 2004, Plaid CymruMPAdam Price 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 and Dan Plesch 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 suggests that 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"
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 it claims Blair must offer a defence:
"failing to resign after misleading parliament and the country;"
The drafting team for the motion was announced on 13 October 2004: It appeared that the team would 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.
Impeachment motion
The legal advisers to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, approved the wording of the motion on 17 November 2004. The motion was tabled for the first day of the next session on 24 November 2004. However, the main three parties forbade their MPs from signing the motion and it was never selected for debate. If the motion had been selected, it would have allowed MPs to debate matters that parliamentary language otherwise forbids. For example, on 17 March 2005, the anniversary of going to war, Price accused Tony Blair of misleading the house. Because this breached the rules of parliamentary language, he was required to leave the House for the remainder of the day. However, such rules only apply to debate within the House. In press and radio and television interviews, other MPs have accused Blair of lying to the House and to the British people, including then opposition leader Michael Howard.
Support
The following members of the previous Parliament supported the original impeachment motion:
The party's official position was for MPs not to sign the impeachment motion. However, the following Conservatives were listed as supporters of the campaign:
Although the party wanted an inquiry into Blair's handling of the war, their official position was not to support the impeachment. However, the following Liberal Democrats were listed as supporters:
