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Politics : Support the French! Viva Democracy! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (4731)	1/17/2004 11:21:58 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 7844

Embattled Blair faces attacks on two fronts By Peter Fray, Herald Correspondent in London January 17, 2004 Tony Blair will face the most critical two days of his premiership in a just over a week when an independent report into the death of a British weapons expert virtually coincides with a backbench showdown on university fees. The British Prime Minister has staked his political future on the findings of the Hutton report into David Kelly's death, and his ability to stare down a mass Labour rebellion over plans to introduce HECS-style fees. Parliament will vote on so-called top-up fees on January 27, and Government whips concede that Mr Blair does not yet have the support to secure victory over the biggest backbench rebellion of his near seven years in Downing Street. A day later, Lord Hutton will release his report into events leading to the death of Dr Kelly, who killed himself last July after being named as the source of a hotly disputed BBC story on Iraqi weapons. The story, by the defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan, claimed Downing Street had "sexed up" its vital prewar dossier on Saddam Hussein's weapons program. Evidence at the Hutton inquiry, which finished hearings in September and was due to report by Christmas, exposed the inner workings of Downing Street, Whitehall and the BBC and severely damaged Mr Blair's standing in the polls. advertisement advertisement Mr Blair has called on his party to "back me or sack me" over university fees and said he would resign if the long-awaited Hutton report found he lied to Parliament. The Hutton report will determine Mr Blair's role in the Government's outing of Dr Kelly as the BBC's source. It will also consider the actions of key Downing Street staff, senior Whitehall bureaucrats and other government ministers, especially the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, and the BBC before Dr Kelly's death. Mr Blair will make a statement to Parliament about the report the day it is released, before a full parliamentary debate, which he will also lead. The Government has so far declined to say when the debate will take place. Lord Hutton, who has recently retired as a law lord, will give the Government, Dr Kelly's family and the BBC a day to digest his report before it is publicly released. At his monthly news conference on Thursday, Mr Blair said he would win the argument on top-up fees. He cited Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US as the countries "doing best in higher education following the introduction of a graduate tax scheme". There are signs that the backbench rebellion is weakening, and a Labour whip, Fraser Kemp, said that the "numbers aren't there at the moment" for the Government to lose. More than 150 Labour MPs signed a motion opposing top-up fees before Christmas, about double that required to defeat the Government. The rebellion is now believed to be close to 100 MPs, about 20 above the safe limit for Mr Blair.