Short quits in row over Iraq

BRITISH Labour MP Clare Short last night delivered a devastating indictment of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his style of government as she finally quit the Cabinet as International Development Secretary.

She resigned saying he had personally breached assurances he had given her over the United Nations’ role in post-conflict Iraq.

She accused Mr Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of cutting secret deals behind her back and warned MPs the prime minister was becoming “obsessed” with his place in history.

In a withering Commons assault she accused Mr Blair’s Downing Street of adopting a “control freak” attitude and imposing policy by “diktat”.

The ferocity of her attack astonished Government ministers and left Tory MPs wincing in the chamber as she delivered the most cutting resignation speech Westminster has heard since Conservative Norman Lamont quit the Treasury accusing John Major of being “in office but not in power”.

The day of Westminster drama began shortly after 10am when Ms Short, with no prior notice, put through a call to No 10 to tell Mr Blair she was quitting.

After a five minute conversation her office relayed news of her departure, catching Downing Street’s machine on the hop. Ms Short then swiftly released her resignation letter, levelling a series of charges at No 10.

She wrote to Mr Blair: “I am afraid the assurances you gave me about the need for a UN mandate to establish a legitimate Iraqi government have been breached.

“The security council resolution that you and Jack (Straw) have so secretly negotiated contradicts the assurances I have given in the House of Commons and elsewhere about the legal authority of the occupying powers, and the need for a UN-led process to establish a legitimate Iraqi government. This makes my position impossible...I am sad and sorry that it has ended like this.”

Mr Blair’s official spokesman said any assurances he had given Ms Short had been honoured. Mr Blair moved swiftly to appoint Foreign Office minister Baroness Valerie Amos to fill Ms Short’s job as International Development Secretary.

In her statement to MPs, Ms Short laid out the case against Mr Blair and his administration. She said it had a “control freak style” adding: “There is no real collective responsibility because there is no collective, just diktats in favour of increasingly badly thought through policy initiatives that come from on high.”

As MPs on all sides flinched at the ferocity of her attack, she continued: “To the Prime Minister I would say that he has achieved great things since 1997 but, paradoxically, he is in danger of destroying his legacy as he becomes increasingly obsessed by his place in history.”

She said she had offered her resignation to Mr Blair on a number of occasions during the run up to the war but was pressed to stay.