Short's war allegations dismissed by Cabinet secretary

Published on Friday 5 March 2004 00:00

BRITAIN’s most senior civil servant yesterday contradicted claims by Clare Short that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, took the country to war without proper Cabinet discussion.

Sir Andrew Turnbull, the Cabinet secretary, said the situation in Iraq dominated "virtually" every Cabinet meeting from September 2002.

"There was discussion on the emerging situation in Iraq week by week. There was regular discussion in Cabinet," he told the Commons public administration committee.

Demolishing the myth that Labour had dispensed with collective decision making, he said there was more Cabinet discussion under Mr Blair than there had been in the final years of Margaret Thatcher.

Sir Andrew’s testimony came as Ms Short again defied his call for her to respect her privy council status by holding her silence over the war. Last week, the Cabinet secretary wrote to the former international development secretary after she alleged British secret services had bugged the office of Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general. Ms Short has since modified her claims.

In his letter, Sir Andrew said that he was "extremely disappointed" she was prepared to make allegations damaging to the country’s interests and gave warning he reserved the right of the Crown to take "any further action as necessary".

Despite the rebuke, Ms Short, who has been summoned by the Labour chief whip to explain her conduct, yesterday used an article in the Tablet newspaper to renew her criticism of Mr Blair for taking military action against Saddam Hussein.

"I am afraid that the deceit on the road to war and the deliberate marginalisation of the UN led to an unforgivable failure to prepare for the aftermath of the inevitable speedy victory," she wrote.

Ms Short, who has been unremitting in her attacks on Mr Blair since she resigned from the Cabinet in protest at the way the reconstruction effort was being handled, went on to accuse Downing Street of orchestrating a "vicious" campaign against her.