Iraq 'divided Labour and Britain'

David Miliband has acknowledged that the Iraq war created divisions within the Labour Party and across the country.

The foreign secretary used his speech to the Labour conference in Bournemouth on Tuesday to say there was no "military solution" to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pointing to international challenges including religious extremism - which aims to "use murder to divide us" - global inequality and climate change, Miliband talked of a "progressive politics" which would take Labour forward after 10 years in government.

He said it was time for Labour to "learn the right lessons and address the new issues", opening a "new chapter" under Gordon Brown.

"In progressive politics we must always be restless for change", he argued. "And that means we have to be restless about the future, not the past."

'Divisive'

The foreign secretary told delegates that Britain had sent out troops four times - "rightly in my view" - and he commended "their bravery and sacrifice".

But he said that one of the lessons Labour had learned since coming to power in 1997 was that military action could only go so far as to create "the space for economic and political life".

He added: "The war in Iraq was divisive in our party and in our country. It was a huge decision and the passion on all sides was sincere and understandable. But whatever the rights and wrongs, and there have been both, we've got to focus on the future."

Britain must carry out its commitments to developing "an effective Iraqi security force", Miliband said. "We need to keep our promise to all Iraqis that they will have an economic stake in the future of their country," he added.

And stressing the need to "reconcile Sunnis and Shias", he warned that this conflict could split the country and spread "like a contagion" across the Middle East.

On Afghanistan, he said it was right to be supporting the government "in driving back terrorism", but stressed the need for them to work with Pakistan "to build strong, stable, democratic countries able to tackle terrorism on both sides of the border".

'Shared values'

Miliband also defended the European Union amid calls for a referendum on the new treaty, and said that Britain's allegiance with America was a "permanent commitment".

While said Britain shared values with other European member states, he said, it was important to support these with institutions.

Dismissing Conservative calls for the new treaty to be put to a public vote, he said Europe "has divided David Cameron's party for 15 years and it's not going to divide us".

He added: "Europe needs to look out, not in, to the problems beyond its borders that define insecurity within our borders. It doesn't need institutional navel-gazing and that is why the Reform treaty abandons fundamental constitutional reform and offers clear protections for national sovereignty."

And pointing to the Europe's role in helping catch the July 21 bomber and in "leading the fight against climate change", he said: "For all the attacks on it, [the EU] is one international institution we need today."

He said Britain was "a bridge between Europe and America", adding: "I'll always defend our alliance with the US and our membership of the European Union. For me, both are permanent commitments, beyond individual personalities, not tactical positions."

"We share core values with America", Miliband said. "It has more power for good than any nation in the world. And we must come together in a great project."

Treaty calls

On the issue of the new EU treaty, Labour MP Gisela Stuart continued to lobby for a referendum, writing in Tuesday's Telegraph that the government should "stick to the promise it made at the last election".

She added: "Elsewhere in Europe, everyone acknowledges (and even boasts of the fact) that the text of the new treaty and its implications are broadly the same as that of the EU constitution; as are the so-called red lines and opt-outs negotiated by the government.

"In the long run, treating people as though they didn't understand reaps no political rewards."

Also backing calls for a public vote was former Labour MP Tony Benn, who explained at a party fringe event in Bournemouth that the EU was "absolutely undemocratic".

He continued: "If tidying up involves tearing up the British constitution, it's a very interesting definition."