UK is Bush's Lewinsky - Galloway

Published on Sunday 17 March 2002 00:00

GEORGE Galloway, the controversial Glasgow Labour MP, last night launched an unprecedented attack on Tony Blair – comparing the Prime Minister’s relationship with George Bush to the one between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

The rebel MP’s comments were made in an interview with the Arabic satellite television channel al-Jazeera, in which he also urged the peoples of the Arab World to use force against Israel to defend Palestinians.

His outburst came as Blair fought hard yesterday to avoid a split developing among European leaders at the Barcelona Summit over support for an Allied strike on Iraq.

As the summit came to an end, EU Commission president Romano Prodi told Bush and Blair that the organisation might oppose any move to extend the war on terrorism to Baghdad.

In his broadside, Galloway, leader of a revolt by around 100 Labour MPs over Blair’s support for US plans to attack Iraq, said: “It is very demeaning for Britain to reduce itself to the tail on the American dog. Especially when the head of the American dog is an imbecile.

“The problem is that Mr Blair believes in the special relationship between Britain and America as the country most important for foreign policy. “Unfortunately this special relationship is of the kind President Clinton had with Monica Lewinsky. It is one-sided, it is immoral, and it can be dispensed with whenever the more powerful partner wishes to do so.”

Galloway also claimed opposition to the Prime Minister was growing in Labour ranks and it emerged last night that a number of senior ministers have now joined the growing band of advisers urging him to think carefully before joining in an attack on Iraq.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, is said to be concerned that an invasion would provoke unrest in the Middle East which could then explode on to British streets and has already briefed Cabinet colleagues on the possible domestic fall-out from an attack on Iraq.

“We cannot separate Iraq from the Middle East or we will have major disturbances, both internationally and in Britain,” one ministerial source warned last night.

Defence chiefs have also warned Blair that a war against Saddam Hussein would be “doomed to failure”. Britain’s military leaders have told the Prime Minister that US plans to involve British forces in an offensive against Iraq would cost thousands of lives for little political gain.

The US wants Britain to commit some 25,000 service personnel to an Iraq invasion force as part of the second phase of President Bush’s war on terrorism.

But senior figures within the armed forces have urged Blair to exercise “extreme caution” in deciding whether he should comply. British military leaders fear an active engagement in Iraq could commit their already stretched forces to a lengthy open-ended struggle, with little guarantee of an easy exit. They have also warned Downing Street that an attack on Saddam could ignite a wave of unrest across the Middle East – unless it is accompanied by serious moves to solve the Palestinian crisis.

The warnings ratcheted up the pressure on Blair as he pondered the most difficult foreign policy decision of his political career.

The Prime Minister managed to keep Iraq off the official agenda at the Barcelona summit yesterday but he was left in no doubt over the level of international disquiet over the expected US offensive.