Glenda Jackson: 'You need a reason for killing people'

Until now the on-screen charisma that made her a double Oscar winner has failed to translate to the political stage. But the actress turned politician Glenda Jackson, 10 relatively unremarkable years after quitting acting to become Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, may yet have found a starring role.

In her sparse Westminster office, which – like the woman herself – gives away virtually nothing, she explains why after a decade of loyalty to her New Labour bosses she has become a rebel.

The answer, in a word, is Iraq. And she's not just a bit rebellious; she is downright strident in her opposition to her government's apparent willingness to back United States-led military action against Saddam Hussein. "I am opposed to military action on Iraq without a clear mandate from the United Nations authorising that and very hard and irrefutable evidence that he has weapons of mass destruction, he can deliver them and he intends to do so," she says.

For Ms Jackson, who did not even stray from the government line when she resigned from her job as a junior transport minister to fight an unsupported (by No 10 at any rate) and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to be her party's candidate for London mayor in 1997, the time has come to throw away the pre-prepared script parroted by many of her colleagues.

She continues: "The things to be concerned about are the pressures already exerted on the weapons inspectors by the American administration and what in my opinion is a clear attempt on the part of the British government to blur the line between what Saddam Hussein might do and what al-Qa'ida has done."

Resolutely not opposed to war on principle, Ms Jackson supported the military strikes on Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 11 September terror attacks.

But Tony Blair's attempts to convert support for that war into support for military action on Iraq by echoing similar human rights concerns have failed to convince.

"His [Saddam Hussein's] record on the basis of human rights, of his aggression, of the fact that he is power-hungry is not in question. But if we are going to take it upon ourselves to go and bomb every country whose human rights record is questionable, it is never going to stop. You can take them to international courts; you don't have to bomb them," Ms Jackson says.

To her, the campaign in Afghanistan was not provoked by Taliban abuses of human rights but simply "because al-Qa'ida crashed four aeroplanes murdering thousands of people on 11 September".

And yet the Prime Minister insists any action on Iraq is designed to prevent any repeat of those atrocities. Ms Jackson's objection remains. She repeats – and repeats: "Where is the evidence?

"I wonder how Saddam Hussein has become more dangerous this past year. Where is the evidence this man is such a real and present danger? Where is the danger? Where is the evidence?

"You have to have a reason for killing people, don't you?" she thunders. "This government is talking about participating in a pre-emptive strike against Iraq with no hard evidence for such an action."

Ms Jackson suspects a bombing campaign would not, in any event, hit hardest at Saddam Hussein or his regime. "It's highly unlikely he is going to sit waiting in one of his palaces for the bombing to start. As always the people who will die are those who are the least culpable." As the MP for Hampstead and Highgate speaks, the words of her critics come to mind. But she doesn't care if she's dubbed a woolly liberal. "Doesn't bother me," she shrugs. Anyway, with the exception of seven letter-writers, her "massive" post-bag from constituents is entirely supportive of her stance.

But is any of this really worth it? Has Ms Jackson the real audience she needs to make her rebellion anything other than an empty gesture? Are Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw listening? Or have they already made up their minds?

"It certainly looks like that," Ms Jackson concedes. "But I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and sincerely hope that they have not." She has been encouraged by moves to sway US President George Bush from his apparently blinkered determination to act towards the United Nations and, even though ministers had to be "dragged back" to Parliament for a Commons debate on the issue in September, she applauds Mr Straw for being "meticulous" in keeping MPs informed since then.

It is not enough, though. And Ms Jackson – who voted with the Liberal Democrats against her own government last time the issue was placed before the Commons – insists she will not flinch from doing so again. "If we are given a substantive motion before military action – or 20 days after it takes place (which is a bit too late in the day) – without evidence to support that I would vote against the Government."

After 25 years in the acting business, Glenda Jackson admitted, on becoming an MP, that giving her maiden speech was the most frightening thing she had ever done in her whole life. It took her 14 years to be recognised formally by the film world. After her first 10 in politics and aged 66, perhaps Ms Jackson is ready truly to excel in her second career.

It is an idea she would probably dismiss. As far as she's concerned it is simply a matter of principle. As she says: "You have to do what you have to do."

Biography

1936: Born in Birkenhead to Harry and Joan Jackson

1957: Graduated from Rada to become stage manager at Crewe Rep

1963: Joined the Royal Shakespeare Company

1971: Won an Oscar for Women in Love

1973: Won another Oscar for A Touch of Class

1992: Ended 25-year acting career to become Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate

1997: Started two-year stint as junior transport minister