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Britain
Blair decides against the push - believing Short will jump
2003-03-11
Tony Blair drew back from immediately dismissing the obnoxious Clare Short from his sight cabinet yesterday. He apparently decided against making a martyr of his international development secretary when he is still struggling to win the useless vital UN vote on Iraq over which she threatened to resign. Though senior ministers and Labour loyalists were furious with Ms Short's accusations of "deeply reckless" management of the crisis, Mr Blair insists he is showing not weakness but an "absolute focus" on his diplomatic priorities.
"I'm busy right now. I don't have time to screw around with nitwits..."
As Ms Short went about her routine departmental business — praised by some anti-war gits MPs for speaking out — some colleagues believe she may now jump before she is pushed when Mr Blair finds the necessary reshuffle time.
"Clare who? Do we know anybody named Clare?"
Whips said she deserved the sack — later, but not now. But her political ally Dennis Turner insisted that Ms Short hopes Mr Blair wins at the UN and that she stays in post. "She wants to continue as secretary of state, she wants to serve her country in the way she is doing so magnificently," the MP said.
By aiding and abetting the weasels?
During 24 hours of extraordinary drama that followed her "10 minutes to midnight" warning on Radio 4, the prime minister and Ms Short spoke briefly on the telephone — late on Sunday night and again yesterday morning — without divulging what was said or whether resignation was even discussed.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Why should you be the one to get all the headlines?"
"'Cuz I'm the prime minister, and you're not!"
"I'm not?"
Both sides in the row feel let down, Ms Short because her privately stated foolishness fears about the danger of war were not being sufficiently acknowledged, Mr Blair because her lethally timed intervention undermines his efforts to do precisely what she wants: get a new UN resolution through the divided security council.
She doesn't want war with the approval of a resolution; she doesn't want war and will undermine the PM to have her way.
The prime minister, who spent most of yesterday bashing the phone to secure the necessary votes, was furious about the radio interview, which Ms Short initiated. But he decided that dismissal for a clear breach of collective cabinet responsibility would only make it a far bigger international story. Anti-war MPs will see the move as proof that Ms Short is unsackable because she is voicing the fears of almost half the parliamentary Labour party, activists and the wider electorate about the looming war.
Both sides might be right.
Some MPs now believe the disputed Iraqi policy has reached the point where Mr Blair's authority may crumble and his premiership end soon. That remains a minority view. Mr Blair himself believes that he has backed Ms Short generously as a minister, as has Gordon Brown, who spoke in support of his leader's policy yesterday, and included her in far more meetings on Iraq than is widely realised. Her budget has doubled since 1997.
Ah, gratitude.
"He was surprised by these comments particularly since they had a one-to-one meeting last Thursday when these views were not expressed. He did not hear the interview last night because he began a conversation with one of the other world leaders at 10 o'clock last night," his spokesman said.
Didn't have the nerve to argue with him to his face, huh?
Ms Short's timing — a few days ahead of the much-delayed UN vote on a second resolution — puzzled MPs. Some thought she was responding to threatened resignations by unpaid PPSs on the bottom rung of government, others to provocations from ministers. Alan Milburn, the health secretary, spoke for many colleagues when he told reporters: "I was particularly surprised because of the huge effort that was going into securing a second resolution and all members of the government should really be behind it."
Unless they're disloyal, in which case it's primo back-stabbing time.
The Blair ally, Peter Mandelson, said on BBC radio: "I think people will ask why she is choosing to say this, why she is choosing to say it now in such language and why she gave no warning of her criticism of the prime minister both in the cabinet last Thursday and also when she has spoken to him personally and directly since then."
As I just said ...
Posted by:Steve White

#4  It's looking more and more likely that Blair will have to accept a non-military role if indeed the UNSC voting falls short. If that is the case, the Brits could still provide valuable support with the US doing the bulk of the military work alone. After all is done, Blair can then send Short her fishing papers.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-03-11 21:48:37  

#3  Clare Short is part of the International Communist Conspiracy to sap and impurity all of our precious bodily fluids.
Posted by: badanov   2003-03-11 17:39:20  

#2  She'll end up like Fredo at Mike's house on the lake. Blair'll take care of it when the time's right.
Don't go fishing Clare.
Posted by: tu3031   2003-03-11 11:19:50  

#1  She's already been busted, she's not standing by a quote she made in 1999.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-03-11 10:50:09  

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