Comparison of Divisions: Iraq — Select committee inquiry — rejected — 31 Oct 2006 at 18:53 with Division No. 330 on the same day at 18:53
(Swap the two divisions around).
Vote (a) : Iraq — Select committee inquiry — rejected - 31 Oct 2006 at 18:53 - Division No. 331
The majority of MPs voted against a further inquiry into the war in Iraq.
Those voting Aye put a new motion before the house to replace the one that was rejected in Division 330, The new motion said:
- This House, recognising that there have already been four separate independent committees of inquiry into military action in Iraq and recognising the importance of learning all possible lessons from military action in Iraq and its aftermath, declines at this time, whilst the whole effort of the Government and the armed forces is directed towards improving the condition of Iraq, to make a proposal for a further inquiry which would divert attention from this vital task.
This motion then passed without a further vote.
Of the "four separate independent" inquiries, three of them, The Foreign Affairs Committee - The Decision to go to war in Iraq of July 2003, Intelligence and Security Committee - Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction Intelligence and Assessments of September 2003, and The Hutton Inquiry of January 2004 were held before it was established that Iraq lacked usable weapons of mass destruction and either avoided the question, or concluded that it was too early to tell. The fourth, The Butler Review of July 2004, did not have the support of the opposition parties who considered that its terms of reference were too narrow.
Vote (b) : Iraq — Select committee inquiry — to be set up - 31 Oct 2006 at 18:53 - Division No. 330
The majority of MPs voted against an inquiry into the Iraq war by a select committee of Privy Counsellors.
Those voting No rejected the words of the motion, which read:
- That this House believes that there should be a select committee of seven honourable Members, being members of Her Majesty's Privy Council, to review the way in which the responsibilities of Government were discharged in relation to Iraq and all matters relevant thereto, in the period leading up to military action in that country in March 2003 and in its aftermath.
They replaced it with a new motion in Division 331
Difference in Votes - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote on Motion (a) differed from their inverted vote on Motion (b). You can also see just opposite votes between these two divisions, or simply all the votes.
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote (a) | Vote (b)
| Name | Constituency | Party | Vote (a) | Vote (b) |
| Iain Duncan Smith | Chingford and Woodford Green | Con | absent | aye |
| Clare Short | Birmingham, Ladywood | whilst Independent Labour | absent | aye |
| Mark Fisher | Stoke-on-Trent Central | Lab | absent | aye |
| Robert Marshall-Andrews | Medway | Lab | absent | aye |
| Alan Simpson | Nottingham South | Lab | absent | aye |
| Peter Soulsby | Leicester South | Lab (minister) | absent | aye |
| Ann Cryer | Keighley | Lab (minister) | absent | no |
| Neil Gerrard | Walthamstow | Lab (minister) | absent | no |
| Ian Gibson | Norwich North | Lab | absent | no |
| David Taylor | North West Leicestershire | Lab (minister) | absent | both |
| Evan Harris | Oxford West and Abingdon | LDem (front bench) | no | absent |
| Mark Durkan | Foyle | SDLP (front bench) | absent | aye |
| Alasdair McDonnell | Belfast South | SDLP (front bench) | absent | aye |
| Eddie McGrady | South Down | SDLP | absent | aye |
Division Similarity Ratio
The measure of similarity between these two divisions is a calculation based on a comparison of their votes.
There were 646 MPs who could have voted in both of these divisions, and 0 voted the same way, with 561 voting in opposite ways. There were 72 MPs who didn't vote in either division, and 13 who voted in only one of them.
We invert the vote on the second division if it makes the distance closer (since the meaning of 'Aye' and 'No' are often interchangeable depending on how the question was put). In this case, they line up on opposite sides. An 's vote in in only one of the divisions contributes a factor of 0.2 to the distance. The calculation runs as follows:
([same-votes] + [differing-votes] + 0.2x[abstain-in-one])
(561 + 0 + 0.2x13)
563.6