Anti-Kerry remarks by Labour MP put Blair on the spot

A leading supporter of Tony Blair has made an extraordinary intervention in the United States presidential election by saying that a victory for John Kerry would herald a surge in terrorism and suicide bombings.

The comments by Gisela Stuart, the former health minister, run the risk of severely embarrassing the Prime Minister on the eve of polling in America.

Mr Blair has instructed all ministers and members of his inner circle to remain strictly neutral and to say nothing to suggest that Downing Street favours either candidate.

Yet Miss Stuart claimed that a Kerry victory over President George W. Bush would prompt "victory celebrations among those who want to destroy liberal democracies".

Writing in The House Magazine, the parliamentary journal, the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston wrote: "More terrorists and suicide bombers would step forward to become martyrs in their quest to destroy the West."

In another dig at the Democratic challenger, she wrote: "You know where you stand with George and, in today's world, that's much better than rudderless leaders who drift with the prevailing wind."

Miss Stuart's remarks are likely to be seized on by US Republicans as a pointer towards Mr Blair's private opinions. Democrats are likely to be infuriated.

Last night, Cherie Blair, on an American lecture tour, was revealed to have criticised Mr Bush over his policies on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and on homosexual rights.

She was quoted in The Mail on Sunday as telling Harvard students that the US Supreme Court decision to give legal protection to two British detainees was "profoundly important" and "a significant victory for human rights".

Mrs Blair was reported to have criticised the arrest of a gay couple in Mr Bush's home state of Texas for defying a ban on sodomy, and said a Supreme Court ruling against the local ban was "a model of judicial reasoning".

My guess is that this is a good indication of how Blair feels about sKerry, he just realizes that it would not be prudent of him to verbalize it.

1 posted on 10/30/2004 5:30:57 PM PDT by wagglebee

A vote for Kerry is a vote for Islamic Terror.

2 posted on 10/30/2004 5:34:07 PM PDT by samtheman (www.swiftvets.com)

You notice this is an "intervention" of our election, but the guardian trying to get people to influence the vote for kerry was just good British fun...Left wing jerks.

3 posted on 10/30/2004 5:41:13 PM PDT by calex59

What the hell? She is right.

4 posted on 10/30/2004 6:05:06 PM PDT by sgtbono2002 (I aint wrong, I aint sorry , and I am probably going to do it again.)

And the Guardian's Charlie Brooks' call for the assasination of Bush was just "ironic British humour."

5 posted on 10/30/2004 6:05:55 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom

Sometimes the TRUTH just has to get out.

6 posted on 10/30/2004 6:25:00 PM PDT by OldFriend (It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given US freedom of the press)

Gisela Stuart.

7 posted on 10/30/2004 8:57:19 PM PDT by dagnabbit (Prevent the next 9-11. Stop Islamic immigration and deport Muslim aliens.)

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