In the past three weeks, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Conservatives have all held their annual conferences. All of them concentrated on domestic policies; none dared discuss Iraq, because they all know that to do so would raise the question of withdrawal, which in turn would unleash a major and possibly explosive debate about Britain’s relationship with the US.
这是一个亟待解决的问题：但是迄今为止主要政党全都避之唯恐不及。工党、自由民主党和保守党都已召开了年会。他们全都聚焦在国内政策上；没人敢于讨论伊拉克，因为他们都知道这样做会引出撤军的问题，从而引发一场有关英美关系的激烈大辩论。