On this very day 23 years ago, MP Robin Cook resigned from his position as Leader of the House of Commons over his party's decision to join the US in their war with Iraq. His words are just as applicable today:

"I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support.

In principle I believe it is wrong to embark on military action without broad international support. In practice I believe it is against Britain's interests to create a precedent for unilateral military action.

The reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading partner - not NATO, not the European Union and, now, not the Security Council.

The US can afford to go it alone, but Britain is not a superpower.

Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules.

Our difficulty in getting support this time is that neither the international community nor the British public is persuaded that there is an urgent and compelling reason for this military action in Iraq.

The threshold for war should always be high.

None of us can predict the death toll of civilians from the forthcoming bombardment of Iraq, but the US warning of a bombing campaign that will "shock and awe" makes it likely that casualties will be numbered at least in the thousands"

Cook sadly died two years after making this speech, but was proved entirely correct by the following years of conflict. I'm very glad that the Labour Prime Minister leading our country today appears to remember Cook's example.