Blair bids to defuse UN 'spying' row

Published on Friday 27 February 2004 00:00

Key points

• Blair denies Britain spied on UN secretary general

• Former development secretary Claire Short claims she saw illegal transcripts

• Case dropped against GCHQ worker on breaching Official Secrets Act

• The Scotsman understands Short was shown UN approved transcripts

• Calls for Ms Short to be expelled from Parliamentary Labour Party

• PM orders review of Secrets Act after collapse of Gun case

Key quote

"It troubled me into deciding to bring it out into the public domain, and that’s what I’ve done. This is the journey of my conscience. It has nothing to do with the Official Secrets Act [or] …national security" – Claire Short, MP

Story in full TONY BLAIR yesterday rushed to save his relationship with Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, by denying British spies had bugged his office in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Britain’s ambassador to the UN yesterday told Mr Annan there was no truth in allegations made by Clare Short, the former international development secretary, who claimed she had seen illegal transcripts of Mr Annan’s conversations.

The Prime Minister also ordered an emergency review of the Official Secrets Act in reaction to the humiliating collapse on Wednesday of the case against Katharine Gun, an intelligence officer, who admitted leaking secret memos to a newspaper in the belief that the Iraq war was illegal.

Ms Short yesterday appeared on BBC Radio to support Mrs Gun - and to disclose that she had seen evidence of Mr Annan being spied upon while diplomats were trying to secure a second UN resolution approving the Iraq war.

"The UK at this time was also spying on Kofi Annan’s office and getting reports from him about what was going on," she told Radio Four’s Today programme. "I know, I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan’s conversations. In fact, I have had conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war thinking, ‘Oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying.’"

Downing Street immediately responded by saying intelligence services would do nothing illegal. The UN also said that any bugging on its property would be illegal.

The Scotsman understands that Ms Short, who served on Mr Blair’s war Cabinet, was shown legally-obtained documents, including phone conversations taped with the knowledge of Mr Annan’s office.

British officials had tracked down people in the UN who had been speaking to Mr Annan, and filed the information to London - as standard practice.

It is understood that these accounts of Mr Annan’s conversations were presented with the positions of other UN members alongside secret intelligence. It would have been available to Ms Short when she attended war Cabinet meetings while Mr Blair was trying to win a majority on the UN Security Council.

In his monthly press conference yesterday, Mr Blair called Ms Short "irresponsible" eight times in the space of an hour, and said that while he was not accepting that her claim was correct, he would not reject it.

No prime minister, he said, would comment on intelligence matters - even if this meant failing to rebut untrue allegations.

He said only: "We act in accordance with domestic and international law."

Challenged by The Scotsman whether he regarded Mr Annan as the sort of person who ought to be spied on, Mr Blair was quick to praise the secretary general as "a personal friend as well as someone for whom I have the greatest political respect".

At the UN’s headquarters in New York, a spokesman said there was no law which permits any type of spying on its property. "We want this action to stop, if indeed it has been carried out," he said. "It’s not good for the United Nations’ work and it is illegal."

It is understood that these comments were being made while Sir Emyr Jones-Parry, the UK ambassador to the UN, called Mr Annan to assure him on behalf of the Prime Minister that MI6 had not been bugging his phone conversations.

Ms Short continued her offensive on Channel Four News last night, saying she was tempted to tell Mr Annan he was being spied on.

"I thought about that a lot ... I had a dilemma about it," she said. "It troubled me and I decided to bring it into the public domain, and that’s what I’ve done. This is the journey of my conscience. It has nothing to do with the Official Secrets Act and nothing to do with national security."

The proposed review of the Official Secrets Act 1989 was itself a source of confusion last night, as the Home Office unofficially said it would go nowhere near the process. Under Section 3.1, it bans former ministers from disclosing "damaging" information.

There were calls for Ms Short to be expelled from the parliamentary Labour Party or removed from the Privy Council, a post she has held since leaving the Cabinet.

Mrs Gun, a translator, had defended herself on the grounds that she was trying to stop an illegal war. The Crown dropped its prosecution on the grounds that it was likely to lose.