Remove the sanctions which are used by the regime in Iraq to justify the systematic degradation of the Iraqi people by its own government and you take that weapon away from Saddam Hussein

Menzies Campbell

Unveiling a switch in policy, Mr Campbell his party's conference in Bournemouth that sanctions were not to blame for the plight or ordinary Iraqis - that was the fault of Saddam Hussein.

He said: "The ordinary people of Iraq are the oppressed not the oppressors... But remove sanctions and you remove the opportunity for that exploitation.

"Remove the sanctions which are used by the regime in Iraq to justify the systematic degradation of the Iraqi people by its own government and you take that weapon away from Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein 'to blame for suffering'

"Remove the sanctions and you will find a collective and sympathetic sigh of relief from Arab governments throughout the Middle East who believe the Iraqi people have suffered enough.

"So today I say that it should now become the policy of the British Government that sanctions other than those directly relevant to military or military related equipment should be lifted."

Stand up to Iraqi aggression - Campbell

But Mr Campbell signalled that his party had not softened its line on Saddam Hussein's regime itself.

He told delegates that if the Iraqi dictator undertook more aggression towards Kuwait he would advocate facing down that threat by military means.

But UN sanctions - which date from the end of the Gulf War in which Iraq was defeated - now amounted to nothing more than containment, Mr Campbell said.

Labour's foreign policy lacks ethics

In a wide-ranging speech, the north east Fife MP also rubbished Labour's "ethical foreign policy".

He said that an ethical dimension was the "keystone" to his party's foreign policy and as such it would have opposed the United States' national missile defence system, refused to sell any more Hawk jets to Indonesia while East Timor was being "ravaged" or resumed the supply of arms to Pakistan while its military junta still held power.

Mr Campbell said: "Transparency and public accountability in arms exports are an essential feature of a foreign policy with an ethical dimension. Governments with nothing to hide have nothing to fear.

"Liberal Democrats in government would have looked for an end to slaughter and the restoration of human rights in Chechnya before taking Mr Putin down the Mall to take tea with the Queen."

On Sierra Leone, Mr Campbell said the UK had been right to intervene. Without the British presence the UN effort would have floundered, he said.

Mr Campbell also poured scorn on Tory foreign policy.

He said: "This is a Conservative Party that does not merely want to withdraw from Europe but to turn its back on the world."