Lord Lothian spoke during the House of Lords debate ‘Iraq – Motion To Take Note’ on Friday 26th September.  While condemning ISIS absolutely, he expressed his reservations over the timing and nature of the proposed British airstrikes in Iraq, and asked whether the lessons  of past interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq previously and Libya had been learned. He said that ‘the main lesson is that this time the relevant questions must be answered before and not after action has commenced’ and that these questions over our immediate and longer-term strategic objectives must be satisfactorily answered ‘before we embark on another military intervention in the Arab world. Until they are answered, we should at least hold our fire’.

To read Lord Lothian’s speech in full, click here (this will take you to the UK Parliament website).