UK’s Foreign Office Minister Points Out Tony Blair’s ‘Mistake’

The UK’s Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has conceded that Prime Minister Tony Blair’s refusal to call for a ceasefire during 34 days of slaughter in Lebanon may have been a mistake.

“The war lasted 34 days. It left 1,393 people dead. Another 5,350 injured. And more than 1,150,000 displaced, of whom 215,413 are still homeless. The damage amounts to more than £2.6bn. Exactly one month after it ended, Kim Howells admits that Tony Blair should have called for a ceasefire, says Andy McSmith in The Indpendent.

“The admission by Kim Howells reflects the growing worries of senior figures in government that Mr Blair’s defence of US foreign policy at every turn is damaging his administration at home and abroad.

“Mr Howells also conceded that the decision to oppose – with the US – the international demand for an immediate ceasefire was not properly explained to the British public.

“Mr Blair’s isolated stance is seen as a major reason for the revolt that forced him to announce last week that he would be standing down within 12 months.

“The Prime Minister’s controversial approach to foreign policy – he has been criticised as President Bush’s poodle – has begun to unravel of late. Yesterday, he was pleading in vain with Nato members to pledge 2,000 more troops to the troubled mission in Afghanistan, where 40 British servicemen have been killed in recent weeks.

“In a further setback yesterday for the Prime Minister, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, denounced the US prison camp at Guantanamo as ‘a shocking affront to the principles of democracy’. He had previously called it ‘intolerable and wrong’.

“Iraq, where Mr Blair has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Bush, remains a quagmire, and there are growing doubts among the British military about its ability to fight on two fronts in the ‘war on terror’.”