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Minister resigns and makes a withering attack on Tony Blair's "presidential" style
Ms Short resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on the ground that the Prime Minister had broken his promises to her by backing US proposals to give the United Nations "only a minor role" in post-war Iraq. . . . And she widened her criticism into a personal attack on Mr Blair when she made an 11-minute resignation statement in the Commons. She bluntly warned the Prime Minister he was "in danger of destroying his legacy as he becomes increasingly obsessed by his place in history". . . . "In the second term, the problem is centralisation of power into the hands of the Prime Minister and an increasingly small number of advisers who make decisions in private without proper discussion," she said. . . . Blairites were worried that her scathing criticism would reignite the debate over his leadership style and public-sector reforms at a difficult time. Mr Blair has suffered a series of backbench revolts over Iraq, foundation hospitals and the fire dispute in recent weeks, and his Cabinet is openly split over the euro. As the mood at Westminster becomes more rebellious, Ms Short could form part of an influential group of critical former cabinet ministers including Mr Cook, Chris Smith and Frank Dobson. . . . She disclosed that she had offered her resignation to the Prime Minister on a number of occasions during the run-up to the war Iraq but was persuaded to stay. In the Commons, Ms Short said she was ashamed Britain had backed a draft UN resolution on the running of Iraq which, she said, had been drawn up in "secrecy" and without consulting Whitehall departments including her own. . . . She said Britain and the US were trying to bully the Security Council into accepting a resolution giving the Allies the power to establish an Iraqi government and control the use of oil for reconstruction. "The only body that has the legal authority to do this is the UN Security Council," she said. . . . Michael Howard, the shadow Chancellor, said the manner of Ms Short's departure showed the Government was "split from top to bottom" over issues including Iraq, foundation hospitals and the euro.

posted by Lorenzo 4:15 PM