[A-List] UK state: Blair tries to save own skin

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Earlier I wrote:

Nevertheless it is also clear that Blair has reached the stage of insanity
much quicker than did Thatcher. His pathological courting of controversy
whilst admitting no wrong shows a degree of recklessness that even Thatcher
in her latter stages eschewed. Her commitment to the poll tax was, at least,
principled. Tony the pragmatist offers us only his own personal integrity,
of which there is progressively little. Such is his inability to admit any
wrong that he was daft enough not to offer up Geoff Hoon as a sacrifice.
That shows a dangerous lack of self-preservation instinct and will only
intensify the preparations for the inevitable succession.

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It seems Tony and his handlers have got the message, but it's too little too
late. For it to have the maximum effect, Hooon's "resignation" should have
been a direct result of the Hutton report. Had Hutton been more judicious in
apportioning blame then possibly Tony's position would be much more secure.
Unless, of course, that was the point, which then opens up all sorts of
intriguing possibilities...


Hoon under pressure over 45-minute claim
By FT reporters
FT.com | Last Updated: February 5 2004 9:11

Geoff Hoon, Britain's defence secretary, was facing further criticism on
Thursday about the 45-minute claim in the government's Iraq dossier.

Tony Blair, the prime minister, told MPs on Wednesday he led Britain to war
against Iraq without realising the claim that Iraq could fire chemical and
biological weapons within 45 minutes referred only to short-range
battlefield weapons.

Mr Hoon is under pressure to explain why Mr Blair was allowed to continue
believing the 45 minute claim applied to long-range missiles, posing a
direct threat to British troops in Cyprus.

He will be grilled by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee on
Thursday hearing evidence on the lessons learnt from Iraq.

The 45-minute claim has become a central bone of contention in the political
row about whether Britain went to war on a false pretext. It will be a
central plank in the Butler inquiry set up by the government this week into
the quality of the prewar information supplied to ministers - intelligence
that Mr Blair admitted on Wednesday could have been at least partly wrong.

Ann Taylor, the Labour MP on the Butler inquiry, signalled it could attack
the intelligence community over the issue.

"There was a very casual attitude to the 45-minute issue . . . this was
badly handled by intelligence professionals," she said. Ms Taylor stressed
the intelligence and security committee, which she chairs, was "not blaming
ministers here".

But Michael Howard, the Tory leader, questioned why the government had not
clarified headlines provoked by its dossier such as "Brits 45 minutes from
doom".
Mr Hoon and John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee,
told the Hutton inquiry they knew such headlines were incorrect when they
appeared.

The prime minister on Wednesday declined to specify when he was told the 45
minutes did not refer to long-range missiles, but said it "wasn't before the
debate on March 18 last year" which approved Britain's entry into the war.

Mr Blair claimed this gap in his knowledge did not undermine the rationale
given for the conflict, which was removing Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction.

"Chemical or biological or nuclear battlefield weapons most certainly would
be ...a weapon of mass destruction and the idea that their use wouldn't
threaten regional stability I find somewhat eccentric," he told a debate on
the Hutton report.

Mr Hoon is also expected to face questions from the Defence Select Committee
on reports that British soldiers suffered from equipment shortages and were
sent ill-prepared into battle in Iraq.