Blair is in a "Cobra" meeting.....what is that?
COBRA? Is that healthcare?
COBR = Cabinet Office Briefing Room
COBRA = “Cabinet Office Briefing Room A”.
It has been convened in recent years for the foot-and-mouth outbreak, fuel tax protests and 11 September attack.
Its members vary according to the issue being dealt with, but in this case include Tony Blair, senior ministers and police and intelligence chiefs.
More at:
From Wikipedia:
COBRA (for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) is a name used to describe ad-hoc committees within the UK government for responding to emergencies.
It meets in the Cabinet Office briefing rooms, which are located underground beneath Whitehall. Depending on your sources, COBRA is either a permanent operation on 24-hour standby, or a fanciful name made up by the UK press based on the fact that crisis meetings tended to be held in briefing room A.
Cabinet Office Briefing Room A is Britain's main information briefing room for the Prime Minister in times of national crisis.
COBRA is based deep underneath the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall and linked by underground passages to 10 Downing Street. Physically it is a suite of secure rooms containing a bank of telephone lines, fax machines, computer terminals, video conference facilities, and other state of the art communication equipment. The intention is to enable the Prime Minister to obtain the vital information of the day and secure lines of communication to the police, army, hospitals, and all other relevant branches of government.
COBRA has been opened for previous crisis such as the Kosovo campaign of 1999, the Fuel Protest of September 2000, the Foot and Mouth Crisis of spring 2001. With such unique sets of circumstances - from dealing with the millions of rotting animal carcasses, to getting the fuel and lifeblood of the country pumping again - COBRA has proved its immense flexibility.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks the Prime Minister Tony Blair did not initiate COBRA, but set up a War Cabinet instead which is a much more traditional institution for dealing with possible major attacks upon the United Kingdom itself in "wartime". However, the above facilities were almost certainly used under its jurisdiction.
COBRA was convened twice during the 7 July 2005 London bombings, to coordinate the emergency response, with the Prime Minister flying directly from the G8 summit to a COBRA meeting.
Not all meetings in briefing room A are COBRA meetings, and the room is also used to host ordinary meetings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_Office_Briefing_Room_A
He's a Pentecostal?
"Blair is in a "Cobra" meeting.....what is that?"
It is the UK equivalent of your 'Situation Room' for these major incidents.
It is effectivley a cabinet sub committee consisting of the Home Secretary, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Foreign Secretary - plus head of relevent departments (e.g MI5, Met Police etc - depending on the specific emergency).