I LED the opposition to the Iraq war within my local Labour Party. I described previously (HAS, Apr 5, 2006) how my MP, Dr Ashok Kumar, led the support for the war. In November, I challenged Dr Kumar about the disastrous consequences.

He answered me with the words: "I loyally supported my leader."

After I wrote about this in the Press, his allies ambushed me with a censure resolution. It is difficult to imagine a more foolish reaction to a published letter than to confirm its accuracy in a resolution ("John has made public what has been said in private"), and to censure, not the MP for displaying hubris about such a serious matter as the Iraq war, but the party member who publicised it.

I have now placed on the internet a detailed record of Dr Kumar's comments and speeches on the Iraq war. See homepage.ntlworld.

com/john.birtill/IW/Ashok_Kumar_I raq_War.htm.

Let no one deny that Dr Kumar was a staunch supporter of the Iraq war. With over half a million deaths, including 150 British troops, this issue is too important for party cronyism. MPs who supported the war must not now try to deny their responsibility by "blaming it all on Blair".

Dr JJ Birtill, Chairman, 1992-2000, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Constituency Labour Party, Guisborough.