Lapdog Blair paying the price for siding with Deflection Dick and W
Blair's Support for Bush Costly at Home
By The Associated Press
Saturday, 28 September, 2002
LONDON (AP) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair has won praise in Washington as President Bush's
staunchest ally, but the role has cost him at home.
As Blair heads Sunday to the northern English resort of Blackpool for the annual meeting of his Labor
Party, he can expect a chilly reception from some delegates -- and a good fight -- over his stalwart support
for Bush's tough line on Iraq.
While Britons were largely supportive of the war in Afghanistan, most are far more skeptical about an
attack on Iraq. Within the Labor Party, opposition to an invasion -- particularly without United Nations
backing -- has threatened to turn into a full-scale rebellion.
Lawmakers finally got a chance to air their frustrations in a Parliamentary debate Tuesday, after Blair
laid out his case against Saddam in a dossier detailing the Iraqi leader's alleged development of weapons of
mass destruction.
While most backed Blair's demand that Saddam submit to U.N. inspections and give up his weapons,
some accused Bush and Blair of marching too quickly toward war. Criticism focused particularly on what
some saw as Blair's eagerness to follow the president's lead, and many questioned Bush's motives in
forcing a confrontation with Iraq.
``If you are to lead us into conflict with Iraq it must be for the right reasons and not as a diversion from
domestic politics in America,'' said Labor legislator Jim Sheridan.
Blair curtly rejected the accusation.
The prime minister seemed at times to have more support from Conservative Party lawmakers than his
own benches. Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, whose role is to criticize the government, ardently backed
Blair's Iraq policy.
In some ways, Labor unrest is a replay of the battles Blair picked -- and won -- after becoming party
leader in 1994. Then, the issue was his determination to abandon the party's commitment to socialism, and
his opponents were some of the same left-wingers who now oppose an attack on Iraq.
The dissidents managed a small protest on Tuesday, with 56 joining a technical vote to express their
opposition -- a purely symbolic gesture. But with many Labor lawmakers stressing their support for working
through the United Nations, Blair may face more opposition if the United States decides to attack without
U.N. authorization.
Not all of Labor's backbenchers opposed their leader.
``Whether it is innate anti-Americanism, whether it is a grievance against the government because of
ambitions thwarted ... or whether it is love of the limelight, it is no excuse for giving comfort to the dictator,''
said lawmaker George Foulkes.
But the opposition was sometimes fierce.
Peter Kilfoyle, a Labor legislator and former Ministry of Defense official, said the Bush administration
would likely pick fights with other nations after battling Iraq.
``We have a group of people in key positions driving an (American) administration who are in my view
almost paranoid,'' he said. ``I won't describe them as hawks, I will describe them as pterodactyls, because
they mix the views of a dim and distant past ... and the new realpolitik of the 21st century.''
Blair has so far pushed ahead regardless of the opposition.
He pressed his argument on Iraq earlier this month before a skeptical audience of trade union leaders
who received his comments politely but with no applause -- or visible protest.
Blair is also likely to face opposition on other fronts in Blackpool from the Labor diehards who believe he
sold the party's traditionally blue-collar, left-leaning soul to bring it back to power after more than 15 years
in a political wasteland.
Although some are grateful Blair dragged the once-unelectable party to the center, others resent
policies they see as too pro-business.
A particularly contentious issue is his fondness for partly privatizing some public services, which
provokes intense opposition from labor unions and others who think it's the wrong way to fix Britain's ailing
health, transportation and education systems.
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