Chilcot report: Former Yorkshire MP points finger at the Cabinet

Mr Grogan was one of a number of Yorkshire Labour MPs who voted against the war in defiance of the then prime minister in 2003.

Then Leader of the Commons Robin Cook resigned over the matter and Mr Grogan suggested other members of the Cabinet at the time should have asked more questions.

Mr Grogan said: “On the night before the Iraq vote I recall Robin Cook clearly setting out in his resignation speech that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and that there were other options than going to war.

“The Cabinet at the time bears a heavy responsibility for not following his lead and questioning the rush to conflict.

“A basic examination of the history of Iraq and previous British involvement in the Middle East should have led to a more cautious approach.”

Former Keighley MP Ann Cryer admitted at the time she had endured sleepless nights over opposing the Government but insisted she had always been confident of her decision.

She said: “I was completely convinced I was right and as things have unravelled over the months and years we don’t need any further proof.

“It was a tremendously hard time, I am not an automatic oppositionist. I thought carefully and long and hard about that decision.”

Mrs Cryer added: “I am just sorry I wasn’t, and my friends weren’t able to persuade the prime minister he was going down the wrong road.”

Earlier in the Commons, Jeremy Corbyn condemned the decision to go to war as an “act of military aggression launched on a false pretext”, as he was heckled by his own MPs.

The Labour leader said the invasion and occupation of the country was a “catastrophe” as he responded to the findings of the Chilcot Report.

He also said the war had “fuelled and spread terrorism” instead of improving security at home and abroad.

Mr Corbyn was a fierce critic of the Iraq War, having previously described the action as “illegal”.

Today he reiterated his stance as he hit out at the decisions which led to the UK going to war.

However, Labour MPs, including Ian Austin, voiced their displeasure at Mr Corbyn’s statement as he spoke.

The Labour leader said: “The decision to invade and occupy Iraq in March 2003 was the most significant foreign policy decision taken by a British government in modern times.

“It divided this House and set the government of the day against a majority of the British people as well as against the weight of global opinion.

“The war was not in any way, as Sir John Chilcot says, a last resort.

“Frankly, it was an act of military aggression launched on a false pretext as the inquiry accepts and has long been regarded as illegal by the overwhelming weight of international legal opinion.”

Mr Corbyn said the invasion had “fostered a lethal sectarianism” that turned into a civil war.

“Instead of protecting security at home or abroad, the war fuelled and spread terrorism across the region,” he said.

He added: “By any measure, the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been for many a catastrophe.”