A rchive Date
[ 10-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Britain ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/03/08/39236-ap.html
British cabinet member threatens to quit over Blair's Iraq policy
By BETH GARDINER
Sun, March 9, 2003
LONDON (AP) - A member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet said Sunday she will quit in protest if Britain participates in a war on Iraq without United Nations backing.
International Development Secretary Clare Short is the highest-ranking British official to threaten to step down. Newspaper reports said Sunday that several lower-ranking members of the government had similar plans. Short, considered one of the cabinet's most liberal members, long has been a focus of rumours about possible protest resignations. She resigned as a Labour party official to protest the party's backing for the 1991 Gulf War.
"If there is not UN authority for military action or if there is not UN authority for the reconstruction of the country, I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the UN and I will resign from the government," Short told British Broadcasting Corp. radio Sunday.
Blair's staunch support of U.S. President George W. Bush's tough stance on Iraq has caused the prime minister serious political problems at home. Polls show a majority of Britons oppose a war not authorized by the UN and Blair is derided by critics as Bush's "poodle."
Last month, 122 Labour legislators staged their biggest rebellion since he came to power in 1997, voting for a motion that said the case for war was "unproven."
Blair has argued passionately for the need to disarm Iraq of its banned weapons. While he says he wants UN support, he has argued that Britain and the United States would be within their rights to use force even if one or more members of the Security Council veto a resolution.
He says he is confident the allies will win a second resolution. Britain, the United States and Spain have proposed the world body give Iraq a March 17 deadline to disarm or face war.
Blair continued to push for international backing, speaking Sunday to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who said every effort must be made to avoid war, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Short responded with strong language when asked whether Blair was moving recklessly.
"I'm afraid that I think the whole atmosphere of the current situation is deeply reckless - reckless for the world, reckless for the undermining of the UN in this disorderly world . . . reckless with our government, reckless with his own future, position and place in history," she said.
Asked if Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw knew of her position, she said: "I have a good relationship and frequent discussions with both of them."
Blair's office said Short had not told the prime minister in advance of the views she expressed to the BBC.
Short's announcement came after Labour legislator Andrew Reed said he was quitting his post as a parliamentary private secretary - a low-level government job - apparently over the Iraq crisis.
Newspapers reported that four other low-ranking members of the government said they would quit if Britain goes to war without UN backing
 World Fact Book (CIA).]
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