Posted on 03/15/2003 10:31:44 PM PST by HAL9000
DUFF HOON TO GO
EXCLUSIVE: He carries the can for Rumsfeld shambles
DEFENCE Secretary Geoff Hoon faces the sack as soon as the conflict in Iraq is over.
Tony Blair has decided to give the hapless Minister his marching orders after Hoon's latest blunder nearly derailed the Government war strategy.
Mr Hoon - dubbed "Buff-Hoon" by colleagues - is tipped to be replaced by Education Secretary Charles Clarke.
Mr Blair was furious after Mr Hoon's American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, declared that the US could engage in a military conflict without Britain.
His statement followed a lengthy telephone conversation with Mr Hoon who, colleagues believe, "over-reached" himself in stressing the Government's difficulties over the war.
During the transatlantic telephone conversation on Tuesday, Mr Hoon stressed the political problems the Government was having both with MPs and the public.
But according to one Whitehall source, he "over-reached" and gave Mr Rumsfeld the impression that Britain would not play a front-line role.
Both the Ministry of Defence and the Pentagon rapidly backtracked .
The PM later had to give Mr Bush his personal assurance that British troops were ready to make a "significant contribution" to any conflict.
Mr Blair was also forced to make a statement to the Commons .
Whitehall insiders say the gaffe by the Defence Secretary was the last straw following a series of blunders.
It comes after his decision to take a skiing holiday last month while military personnel had all leave cancelled in preparation for the war in Iraq. He was also ridiculed after being photographed wearing city-style loafers as he met British troops in the Kuwaiti desert.
Mr Hoon was NOT on the list of Cabinet members invited to Number 10 yesterday to finalise plans for the war. Instead he was at his home in Derbyshire.
The PM will not remove Mr Hoon in the middle of a military conflict involving British troops, but he is expected to conduct a major Cabinet reshuffle before the summer.
Today, Mr Blair and President Bush will hold their last council of war before an attack on Iraq, expected in the next few days. Hopes of UN backing for the conflict all but faded last night as Britain and the US prepared to go it alone. Mr Blair made a series of last-ditch calls to world leaders in a bid to win support for a UN resolution but Downing Street admitted its chances were "bleak".
The UN resolution tabled by the US, Britain and Spain may not even be put to the vote in the face of opposition from France, Russia and China.
Before leaving the US for today's emergency summit in the mid-Atlantic Azores islands, President Bush declared there was "little hope" of avoiding war.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted "The prospect of military action is now much more probable."
Mr Blair and Mr Bush are meeting Spanish leader Jose Maria Aznar, the only other head of state to offer full backing for the allies, amid mounting protests that the war is illegal under international law.
The Government has refused to release details of the legal advice given by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.
Commons Speaker Michael Martin has received demands from MPs to intervene and ensure his advice is available before Parliament debates the war this week.
Today, Government whips have been called in to Westminster to rally support for the PM, who faces revolt from 200 MPs. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein claimed to have destroyed his lethal VX nerve gas. Iraqi officials said a 25-page report submitted to the UN on Friday showed the entire stock had been destroyed.
But UN officials were more cautious and said the report, half in Arabic and half in English, was still being translated.
The dossier is Baghdad's first response to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix's request for evidence to back Iraq's claims to have destroyed stocks of biological and chemical agents .
Osama bin Laden's business chief, Yassir al-Jazeeri, was last night reported to be held in Pakistan.
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