JACK STRAW discloses today in
The Times that he would have resigned with Tony Blair had many more Labour MPs joined the revolt against war in Iraq in the crucial Commons vote on March 18.
Had that happened, British troops might have been left on the borders of Iraq — unavailable for use by the Americans in the battle to topple Saddam Hussein, he says.
The Foreign Secretary’s account of the critical days leading up to military action exposes starkly how close he and Mr Blair came to the end of their careers. Mr Blair revealed in an interview last week with the Sun that he was preparing for resignation if he had lost the Commons vote.
But Mr Straw, speaking of the “very dark moments” surrounding the approach of war, suggests strongly that had the record revolt by Labour MPs been much bigger it would have been the end for them both. It was a situation that would almost certainly have led to John Prescott becoming acting prime minister.
Conservative support meant it was highly unlikely that the Government would lose the vote. But ministers believed until fairly late on that day that there was a real risk that a majority of Labour MPs might go against them. Mr Straw’s remarks suggest that would have been the breaking point.
He said: “I was simply conscious of the fact that if it went wrong — if we did not get the support we needed in the Commons — he (Mr Blair) would almost certainly go and I would go with him. I did give it quite a bit of thought.”
Mr Straw, interviewed at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by The Times, says that as the minister, other than Mr Blair, most associated with the run-up to war his job was on the line as well as Mr Blair’s.
His remarks come as President Bush described for the first time his feelings on sending troops to war and his hesitation on the night that he ordered the bombing of a Baghdad compound thought to contain Saddam.
The Times also reveals today that Mr Blair ordered a revamp of the battle plan for the Armed Forces last Christmas after the Ankara Government refused to allow the Desert Rats to be based in Turkey. The general view among MPs and ministers at the time was that if Mr Blair had failed to win a majority of Labour MPs — just over 200 — he could not have carried on. In the end 139 voted against him, a figure that would have been higher but for final hours and days of arm-twisting by the whips, including private warnings to MPs that Mr Blair might be forced to quit.
Mr Straw voices surprise at how quickly the war was concluded and how fragile the support for Saddam among his followers turned out to be.
The Commons vote was not a gamble, he said, but there were risks, including personal and political ones.
He said: “Would it be x percentage of Labour MPs, or backbenchers or the total? We had not decided. It would have been one of those things that would have been obvious had we arrived at that point. It would have been a matter of sentiment.” Mr Straw suggests that other leaders who have resigned knew when the moment had come, and cites Chamberlain, who went even though he won a Commons majority with only 40 voting against him. “You know when you know,” he says. He adds that in that situation British troops might have had to be withdrawn. “If that happened, that was a possibility. I would not put it any higher.”
Mr Straw’s disclosures throw fresh light on the comments by Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, a week before the Commons vote, when he gave warning that Mr Blair’s domestic troubles might mean American troops going into action without the backing of British forces.
The Foreign Secretary says: “Americans can and do read British newspapers. They knew that we had a considerable debate inside the Labour Party and that it would be particularly acute if we failed to get a second resolution.” Mr Straw’s remarks suggest that Mr Rumsfeld knew from his contacts with British ministers just how critical the situation was.
Had the Prime Minister resigned, Mr Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, would have taken over the reins pending a swiftly organised Labour leadership election in which Gordon Brown would have been the overwhelming favourite.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, confirmed that other senior government figures had been widely expected to “go down” with Mr Blair had the Commons vote gone against them.
He told The Guardian: “Everyone believed . . . that Tony had put his premiership on the line and those who are very close to him would go down with him.”
On a day of war reminiscences President Bush for the first time described the “heavy moment” when he formally committed US troops to war.
He said that he had hesitated to authorise the opening strike against a compound where Saddam was reported to be at a meeting because he feared that innocents could be killed and that “the first images of the American attack would be death to children”.
Days before the initial strikes, Mr Bush told General Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in the Gulf, to start the war at a time of his choosing. “I told Tommy, for the sake of peace and security and the freedom of the Iraqi people that he’s got orders to proceed. I asked God for blessing on him and the troops. He saluted, I saluted back,” Mr Bush recalled.“It was an emotional moment for me.”
