Blair brushes off former diplomats’ attack on Iraq and Middle East policy

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday sought to play down the significance of a letter from 52 former top diplomats that delivered a damning indictment of his stand on Iraq and the Middle East.

In an unprecedented broadside, the ex-diplomats many of them experts on the Middle East said their catalyst for action had been the seeming acquiescence of Mr Blair to US President George W Bush's backing for a unilateral Middle East peace plan instigated by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.

"If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure," said the letter, sent to Downing Street on Monday and published in several British newspapers yesterday.