The Carlyle factor seems the only logical explanation imho.
[I'm not going to criticise the president of the USA, thats for Americans to decide, however Tony Blair is our problem, and he will be sorted, and Robin Cook always was a slimeball anyway -g- pb]
Cabinet 'near mutiny' over war
By Greg Hurst, Parliamentary Correspondent
timesonline.co.uk
TONY BLAIR faced a “near mutiny” from Cabinet ministers demanding to debate the prospect of war with Iraq last year, Robin Cook says in his memoirs.
David Blunkett led calls for a discussion on Iraq at a Cabinet meeting. When Mr Cook supported him, arguing that military action would not be understood in Europe or the Arab world, other ministers cried out in agreement, he says. “Somewhat to my surprise this line provokes a round of “hear, hearing” from colleagues, which is the nearest I’ve heard to a mutiny in the Cabinet,” Mr Cook records.
The Prime Minister assented, and when the discussion took place the following week, on March 7, he was left isolated, as all the contributions pointed to opposition to going to war, Mr Cook says. “For the first time I can recall in five years, Tony was out on a limb,” he says.
Mr Cook, who resigned as Leader of the Commons on the eve of a Commons vote endorsing the war, records both meetings in a book serialised in The Sunday Times.
The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed as “absurd” yesterday claims attributed to Mr Cook that Mr Blair admitted knowing two weeks before going to war that Saddam Hussein did not have useable weapons of mass destruction.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The idea that the Prime Minister ever said that Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction is absurd. His views have been consistent throughout, both publicly and privately, as his Cabinet colleagues know.”
One of Mr Cook’s associates pointed out that this denial did not reflect what he had said. The book says that both Mr Blair and John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, acknowledged early this year that Iraq probably did not have weapons of mass destruction that could be used against cities or capable of being delivered reliably over long distances.
Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “We need an inquiry, headed by a judge, to look into the question of whether we went to war on a flawed prospectus, either because of inadequate intelligence or the mishandling of intelligence once obtained.”
According to the memoir, the full Cabinet discussion was opened by Mr Blunkett, who asked what suddenly gave Britain a legal right to take action that it did not have a few months earlier.
Patricia Hewitt protested that Britain was listening to the worries of the US while it ignored British protests by raising tariffs on steel exports. Ms Hewitt said: “We are in danger of being seen as close to President Bush, but without any influence over President Bush.”
Mr Cook notes wryly in his diary: “I am told that in the old days prime ministers would sum up the balance of view in the discussion. This would be simple in the present case as all contributions pointed in one direction.” He accuses Mr Blair of “not regarding the Cabinet as a place for decisions”.
Chris Smith, the former Culture Secretary, told GMTV that Mr Cook’s account confirmed his belief that Mr Blair went to war to remain close to President Bush. |
