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Blair accused of making secret pact

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing mounting pressure from across the House of Commons to hold an independent inquiry into the Iraq war after former international development secretary Clare Short levelled the incendiary allegation at Blair that he had lied to the Cabinet.

As an increasingly exasperated Blair once again swept aside calls for a public inquiry into the failure to uncover banned Iraqi weapons, Short accused Blair of bypassing the Cabinet to agree a "secret" pact with US President George W. Bush to go to war.

To compound the prime minister's difficulties -- as members of parliament (MPs) prepare to return to parliament today after the Whitsun recess -- former foreign secretary Robin Cook demanded an independent inquiry into what he called the "monumental blunder" by the British government.

His criticisms were echoed Sunday by the Conservative party who said they were giving "very serious consideration" to calls for an inquiry.

Michael Howard, the shadow chancellor, indicated to the BBC Sunday night that the Conservatives were considering abandoning their bipartisan approach to Iraq because of fears that the British government might have "doctored" last year's dossier on Iraq's banned weapons to strengthen the case for war.

The interventions by such senior figures from across the house gave heart to Labour MPs who are planning to ambush the prime minister today at his weekly House of Commons appearance and also during a subsequent statement on the G8 summit.

They are demanding an emergency House of Commons statement after an unnamed intelligence source told the BBC last week that the government had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's banned weapons.

Tam Dalyell, the father of the house who has a question to the prime minister on today's House of Commons order paper, is expected to step up the pressure by asking about Short's accusation that he was deceitful to the Cabinet on three occasions.

In her BBC interview, she accused Blair of:

-- Agreeing in "secret" with Bush at Camp David last September to go to war -- and then telling the Cabinet that he would try to act as a constraint on the US.

-- Misleading the Cabinet over Iraq's weapons capability -- by "spinning" the claim that Iraq could launch a chemical or biological attack within 45 minutes.

"Where the spin came was the suggestion that it was all weaponized, ready to go, immediately dangerous, likely to get into the hands of al-Qaeda, and therefore things were very very urgent."

-- Falsely telling the Cabinet and the world that French President Jacques Chirac would veto a second UN Security Council resolution authorizing war.

The transcript of Chirac's interview, which she subsequently read, showed the prime minister's claim to be wrong.

Short, who was widely criticized after she failed to carry out a threat to resign on the eve of war, also accused the prime minister of riding roughshod over the conventions of Cabinet.

Warning that civil servants and troops were ready to disobey an order to go to war, Short said that the prime minister swung round the Whitehall machinery at the last moment when the attorney general declared that military action would be legal.

But she added, "I think, given the attorney's advice, it was legal. But I think the route we got there didn't honor the legality questions."
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