The Military Action Against Iraq (Parliamentary Approval) Bill was a private member's bill introduced into the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

by Tam Dalyell under the Ten Minute Rule. It received its formal first reading on 26 January 1999. The bill sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

from the

monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The long title of the bill was "A Bill to require the prior approval, by a simple majority of the House of Commons, of military action by United Kingdom forces against Iraq". It was presented by Tam Dalyell and supported by Tony Benn,

Harry Cohen Harry Michael Cohen (born 10 December 1949) is a British people, British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Leyton (UK Parliament constituency), Leyton f ...

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

, George Galloway, Neil Gerrard, Ian Gibson, John McAllion, Alice Mahon, Robert Marshall-Andrews, Dennis Skinner, and Audrey Wise. The bill became Bill 35 in the 1998/1999 parliamentary session, and was initially scheduled for second reading on 16 April 1999. As a bill modifying the

's prerogative powers, Queen's Consent was required before it could be debated in Parliament. The Queen, acting upon the advice of her government, refused to grant her consent for the bill to be debated. The second reading was initially postponed from 16 April until 23 July 1999. Due to

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

's continuing refusal to signify its consent to the bill being debated, it could not receive its second reading on 23 July 1999. In the absence of a request for a further postponement, the bill was automatically dropped before it obtained its second reading.Weekly Information Bulletin
(29 July 1999)("''Commons: (35) 1R: 26.1.99 (Dropped)''") When military action against Iraq was eventually organised in 2003, the government sought parliamentary approval on 18 March 2003, one day before the invasion began, although no powers under the

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...

were thereby transferred to Parliament.

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