Posted on 05/12/2003 10:29:03 AM PDT by ejdrapes
This is
Short: Blair is obsessed
Clare Short launched a stinging attack on the Prime Minister today, accusing him of becoming "increasingly obsessed" by securing his place in history.
In her 11-minute resignation speech, Ms Short said she had no alternative but to quit as International Development Secretary due to Government "mistakes" on Iraq. But in her most devastating remarks, she condemned the lack of collective Cabinet decision making and poor policy initiatives being "rammed" through Parliament. She warned Labour colleagues that they were "entering rockier times" and must work together to prevent the Government "departing from the best values of the party". To gasps of shock and surprise from all sides, she continued: "To the Prime Minister I would say that he has achieved great things since 1997 but, paradoxically, he is in danger of destroying his legacy as he becomes increasingly obsessed by his place in history." Mr Blair was not in the chamber to hear Ms Short's assault on him and his style of Government. But Foreign Secretary Jack Straw did sit stony-faced on the front bench through her speech with Leader of the House John Reid alongside. Her comments from the back benches were regularly punctuated by gasps of surprise and intakes of breath, as MPs reacted with shock to the strength of her views. Ms Short said that in Labour's second term, power had become centralised into the "hands of the Prime Minister and an increasingly small number of advisers who make decisions in private without proper discussion". There was no real collective responsibility "because there is no collective - just diktats in favour of increasingly badly thought through policy initiatives that come from on high". She disclosed that she had offered her resignation to the Prime Minister on a number of occasions during the run up to the war but was pressed to stay. Ms Short said: "I have decided to resign from the Government. I think it is right to explain my reasons to the House of Commons to whom I have been accountable as Secretary of State for International Development - a post I have been deeply honoured to hold and am very sad to leave. "I had many criticisms of the way in which events leading up to the conflict in Iraq were handled. "I offered my resignation to the Prime Minister on a number of occasions but was pressed by him and others to stay. "I have been attacked from many different angles for that decision but I still think, hard as it was, it was the right thing to do. "The reason I agreed to remain in the Government was that it was too late to put right the mistakes that had been made. "I had throughout taken the view that it was necessary to be willing to contemplate the use of force to back up the authority of the UN. The regime was brutal, the people suffering and our Attorney General belatedly, but very firmly, said there was legal authority for the use of force." To Tory jeers, she added: "And because the Opposition was voting with the Government the conflict was unavoidable. "I decided I should not weaken the Government at that time and should agree to the Prime Minister's request to stay and lead the UK humanitarian and reconstruction effort. "However, the problem now is that that the mistakes that were made in the period leading up to the conflict are being repeated in the post-conflict situation. "In particular, the UN mandate necessary to bring into being a legitimate Iraqi Government is not being supported by the UK Government. This, I believe, is damaging to Iraq's prospects, will continue to undermine the authority of the UN and directly affects my work and responsibilities." As MPs sat in rapt silence, Ms Short continued: "The situation in Iraq under international law is that the coalition are occupying powers in occupied territory. Under the Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Hague regulations of 1907 the coalition has clear responsibilities and clear limits to its authority. "It is obliged to attend to the humanitarian needs of the population, to keep order and keep civil administration operating. "The coalition is legally entitled to modify the operation of the administration as much as is necessary to fulfil these obligations but is not entitled to make major political, economic and constitutional changes. "The coalition does not have sovereign authority and has no authority to bring into being an interim Iraqi Government with such authority, or to create a constitutional process leading to the election of a sovereign government. "The only body that has the legal authority to do this is the UN Security Council. "I believe it is duty of all responsible political leaders right across the world, whatever view they took on the launch of the war, to focus on reuniting the international community in order to support the people of Iraq in rebuilding their country, to re-establish the authority of the UN and to heal the bitter divisions that preceded the war. "I am sorry to say that the UK Government is not doing this. It is supporting the US in trying to bully the security council into a resolution that gives the coalition the power to establish an Iraqi Government and control the use of oil for reconstruction with only a minor role for the UN. "This resolution is unlikely to pass but if it does it will not create the best arrangements for the reconstruction of Iraq. The draft resolution risks continuing international divisions, Iraqi resentment against the occupying powers and the possibility that the coalition will get bogged down in Iraq."
LONDON
12/05/03 - News and city section
Would that some at FR could keep theirs to ten minutes...
Good! Sounds like he is aspiring to American-style Executive leadership. Way to go Tony!
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