http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1216536,00.html
Blair urged to loosen ties with US
Ministers call for public disengagement
Nicholas Watt and Michael White
Friday May 14, 2004
The Guardian
Senior figures across the Labour party are intensifying pressure on Tony Blair to publicly detach himself from the Bush administration, calling on him to spell out an independent British position on the Middle East, peacekeeping in Iraq and the US presidential election.
Normally loyal ministers have joined backbench colleagues to urge the prime minister to demonstrate his political detachment from Washington amid fears that the crisis in Iraq is undermining his domestic standing.
According to ministers and Labour backbenchers from all wings of the party interviewed by the Guardian, Mr Blair should seize the earliest opportunity to recalibrate his approach to foreign affairs.
Key party members are advising Downing Street to change tack in three key areas:
· Drawing a line between Britain's widely acclaimed peacekeeping record and the heavy-handed military tactics of US forces in Iraq;
· Advocating a more emollient approach to the Middle East peace process, undoing the damage of Mr Blair's Rose Garden endorsement of the Sharon plan. In particular, they want No 10 to highlight the EU's refusal to follow Washington's imposition of sanctions on Syria;
· Courting US Democrats more actively in election year without breaking traditional conventions of government-to-government neutrality.
Mr Blair has made clear to his supporters that he will not criticise President George Bush in public. In an interview with the Independent today the prime minister said it was not a time to start "messing around with your main ally".
But he is said to have conceded tha he will have to soften his stance on Iraq in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. "Tony can seem a bit one-dimensional on Iraq because he is so sure that what he did was right. That has changed with the pictures from Abu Ghraib: he now realises that people who supported the war are very worried and have the right to ask: How did it end up like this?" one former minister said.
Mr Blair has also indicated that he will do more to court the Democrats, who are seeking to put Senator John Kerry in the White House. Mr Blair is understood to have heeded the advice of ministers who say that, unless his party can improve ties with the Democrats, the government will be badly exposed if Mr Kerry wins on November 2.
Ministers are expected to try to shape their US trips around Democrat-controlled states, where they will meet like-minded opposite numbers.
Downing Street's priority is to refocus political debate on the domestic agenda. Mr Blair yesterday concluded the outlines of a deal with his chancellor and rival, Gordon Brown, to rescue 60,000 people who lost their occupational pensions when their firms went bust.
The prime minister also enjoyed what was billed as "one of the best-humoured cabinets". He then headed for the West Midlands to trumpet plans to offer a free "second chance" to adults without five GCSEs or equivalent NVQs.
John Prescott told yesterday's cabinet to "get things in perspective". And a Blair adviser said: "When you go out and meet real people, no one mentions Iraq."
But many MPs are more divided over the much-debated prospect of Mr Brown succeeding to the Labour leadership this side of a general election, a bet on which the bookmaker William Hill cut the odds from 14/1 to 8/1 yesterday.
The extent to which the Iraq crisis is spreading political unease across Europe was underlined yesterday when the French government said the region was spinning out of control. Speaking to Le Monde, foreign minister Michel Barnier, likened Iraq to a black hole. He said: "It all gives the impression of a total lack of direction.
"What strikes me is the spiral of horror, of blood, of inhumanity that one sees on all fronts, from Falluja to Gaza and in the terrible pictures of the assassination of the unfortunate American hostage."
In negotiations in New York on a new UN resolution for Iraq, the French government is pressing for as many powers as possible to be handed to the caretaker government. The main sticking point is the role of US-led forces after June 30.
Any change of tack in British foreign policy would show the degree of soul-searching at the top of government.
Earlier this week, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, made unusually forthright criticisms of the Bush administration.
Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, followed suit yesterday with a strong statement on the US's abuse of prisoners. "It is a stain on the coalition and the sooner the better it is got control of - and eradicated - then we can move forward," he told MPs.
Blair urged to loosen ties with US
Ministers call for public disengagement
Nicholas Watt and Michael White
Friday May 14, 2004
The Guardian
Senior figures across the Labour party are intensifying pressure on Tony Blair to publicly detach himself from the Bush administration, calling on him to spell out an independent British position on the Middle East, peacekeeping in Iraq and the US presidential election.
Normally loyal ministers have joined backbench colleagues to urge the prime minister to demonstrate his political detachment from Washington amid fears that the crisis in Iraq is undermining his domestic standing.
According to ministers and Labour backbenchers from all wings of the party interviewed by the Guardian, Mr Blair should seize the earliest opportunity to recalibrate his approach to foreign affairs.
Key party members are advising Downing Street to change tack in three key areas:
· Drawing a line between Britain's widely acclaimed peacekeeping record and the heavy-handed military tactics of US forces in Iraq;
· Advocating a more emollient approach to the Middle East peace process, undoing the damage of Mr Blair's Rose Garden endorsement of the Sharon plan. In particular, they want No 10 to highlight the EU's refusal to follow Washington's imposition of sanctions on Syria;
· Courting US Democrats more actively in election year without breaking traditional conventions of government-to-government neutrality.
Mr Blair has made clear to his supporters that he will not criticise President George Bush in public. In an interview with the Independent today the prime minister said it was not a time to start "messing around with your main ally".
But he is said to have conceded tha he will have to soften his stance on Iraq in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. "Tony can seem a bit one-dimensional on Iraq because he is so sure that what he did was right. That has changed with the pictures from Abu Ghraib: he now realises that people who supported the war are very worried and have the right to ask: How did it end up like this?" one former minister said.
Mr Blair has also indicated that he will do more to court the Democrats, who are seeking to put Senator John Kerry in the White House. Mr Blair is understood to have heeded the advice of ministers who say that, unless his party can improve ties with the Democrats, the government will be badly exposed if Mr Kerry wins on November 2.
Ministers are expected to try to shape their US trips around Democrat-controlled states, where they will meet like-minded opposite numbers.
Downing Street's priority is to refocus political debate on the domestic agenda. Mr Blair yesterday concluded the outlines of a deal with his chancellor and rival, Gordon Brown, to rescue 60,000 people who lost their occupational pensions when their firms went bust.
The prime minister also enjoyed what was billed as "one of the best-humoured cabinets". He then headed for the West Midlands to trumpet plans to offer a free "second chance" to adults without five GCSEs or equivalent NVQs.
John Prescott told yesterday's cabinet to "get things in perspective". And a Blair adviser said: "When you go out and meet real people, no one mentions Iraq."
But many MPs are more divided over the much-debated prospect of Mr Brown succeeding to the Labour leadership this side of a general election, a bet on which the bookmaker William Hill cut the odds from 14/1 to 8/1 yesterday.
The extent to which the Iraq crisis is spreading political unease across Europe was underlined yesterday when the French government said the region was spinning out of control. Speaking to Le Monde, foreign minister Michel Barnier, likened Iraq to a black hole. He said: "It all gives the impression of a total lack of direction.
"What strikes me is the spiral of horror, of blood, of inhumanity that one sees on all fronts, from Falluja to Gaza and in the terrible pictures of the assassination of the unfortunate American hostage."
In negotiations in New York on a new UN resolution for Iraq, the French government is pressing for as many powers as possible to be handed to the caretaker government. The main sticking point is the role of US-led forces after June 30.
Any change of tack in British foreign policy would show the degree of soul-searching at the top of government.
Earlier this week, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, made unusually forthright criticisms of the Bush administration.
Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, followed suit yesterday with a strong statement on the US's abuse of prisoners. "It is a stain on the coalition and the sooner the better it is got control of - and eradicated - then we can move forward," he told MPs.
