British Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced onto the defensive on Wednesday when he admitted that he would have to resign as prime minister if he lied to the British parliament over his role in the naming of the UK government scientist and weapons inspector, David Kelly, in the row over a UK government dossier on Iraq.
As Lord Hutton warned Britain's political classes against jumping to conclusions ahead of the publication of his report into the circumstances leading up to the death of Kelly, the British prime minister said he "of course" accepted that ministers who mislead members of parliament have to quit.
Blair's remarks came after the UK Opposition leader, Michael Howard, all but accused the prime minister of lying days after the death of Kelly. In their first House of Commons clash of the new year Howard asked Blair whether he stood by his statement of July 22, made on board a flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong, that he had "emphatically" not leaked the name of Kelly.
Howard believes the prime minister's declaration may be highly damaging after Sir Kevin Tebbit, the permanent secretary at the UK Ministry of Defence, told the Hutton inquiry in October that Blair chaired the key meetings during the "naming strategy" -- the convoluted process which led to the confirmation of the scientist's name. "Either the permanent secretary or the prime minister is not telling the truth," Howard said.
His hopes of coaxing the prime minister to repeat his inflight remarks in the Commons -- potentially endangering Blair's position if Lord Hutton rules against him -- were thwarted when the prime minister gave a careful reply: "I stand by the totality of what I said at that time -- but in relation to this issue and all the other issues, the Hutton inquiry is going to report shortly. I suggest you wait for that."
This gave the prime minister the confidence to tell another Opposition MP that he would resign if he was proved to have lied to the Commons.
The angry exchanges came hours before Lord Hutton signalled his determination to avoid being used as a political football by quashing speculation about a government decision to make a late submission to his inquiry, the issue that prompted the new row.
"There was nothing surprising or unexpected or of special significance in the making of these written submissions," Lord Hutton said.
Lord Hutton attempted to calm the atmosphere by saying that all the main players -- the government, the BBC and the Kelly family -- had accepted an invitation from the inquiry to submit further evidence, he said. "Contrary to the suggestions in some of the press reports today, there was nothing surprising or unexpected or of special significance in the making of these written submissions," Lord Hutton said.
His intervention came as a relief to Blair's office in Downing Street, London, which had been struggling to dampen speculation about its decision to submit evidence after Lord Hutton concluded his hearings.
But Lord Hutton, who is due to retire next week before he publishes his report, underlined his independence when he made clear that the evidence was being withheld at the request of the government.
His remarks may prove embarrassing for Downing Street, which had given the impression that it was opposed to publication of the documents out of respect to Lord Hutton. Inquiry sources were keen to point out that the law lord wanted to publish the documents but only changed his mind after representations from the government. Lord Hutton's statement also leaves it unclear whether No 10's final written submission refers to Sir Kevin's evidence.
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex. The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-shaped objects as they parade through the street with glee. The festival, as legend has it, honors a local blacksmith in the Edo Period (1603-1868) who forged an iron dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina that had been castrating young men on their wedding nights. A 1m black steel phallus sits in the courtyard of
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
RSS