Armed force illegal, claim Cherie Booth's colleagues

Leading lawyers from Cherie Booth's chambers said yesterday that Britain would breach international law if it used armed force against Iraq.

The barristers Rabinder Singh QC and Alison MacDonald, from the Matrix Chambers of the Prime Minister's wife, reached the conclusion in a report for an inquiry being staged next month into the legality of a strike on Saddam Hussein.

A survey of Labour backbench MPs has also suggested that nearly all are unconvinced of the need for military action and want Parliament consulted. Of 100 who agreed to take part in a survey for the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, 88 said there were insufficient grounds to declare war on Iraq. Holding a Commons debate before any decision was taken was supported by 86 and 56 wanted a debate and a vote at the Labour party conference later this month.

In his lengthy legal opinion, Mr Singh said using force would not be justified under international law unless Iraq's leaders mounted a direct attack on Britain or one of its allies. Furthermore, a military assault could only be legal if a strike on Britain or one of its allies was "imminent" and could be averted "in no way other than by the use of force".

The report added: "Our view is that current Security Council resolutions do not authorise the use of force against Iraq. Such force would require further authorisation from the Security Council. At present, the United Kingdom is not entitled, in international law, to use force."

Another Matrix barrister, Julian Knowles, has been hired to represent the other side for the inquiry and to argue that an attack would be covered by international law. The inquiry, at Gray's Inn, London, on 11 October, is designed to be identical in structure to a judicial review. It was commissioned by the humanitarian law group Peacerights and will be chaired by the international law expert Professor Colin Warbrick, of Durham University.

Phil Shiner, a solicitor with Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham, who is organising the inquiry, said: "The UK should not follow any decision of the US to flout international law. This opinion says clearly that current Security Council resolutions do not authorise using force."