Likening her one-time political ally to a "street performer," former Japanese foreign minister Makiko Tanaka said on Tuesday that she regretted helping Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to power three years ago.
Tanaka, a lawmaker and former member of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was once one of Japan's most popular politicians. Her tireless campaigning at Koizumi's side was a key element in his rise to power in April 2001.
But her outspokenness, and a bitter battle with foreign ministry bureaucrats and their LDP backers, led Koizumi to sack her in January 2002.
On Tuesday, the fiery Tanaka slammed Koizumi on a wide range of policies, including his decision to send troops to Iraq and have them take part in multinational forces there.
"He is like a street performer," she told reporters. "He will do various things like juggling, breathing fire and riding a unicycle, but when things go against him, he just folds up his wrapping cloth and withdraws.
"I feel ashamed that I helped ... someone so flippant."
The LDP suspended her and she resigned from parliament seven months after her sacking as foreign minister over accusations that she misappropriated funds intended to pay an aide's salary.
Tanaka regained her seat last November as an independent.
Long known for her sharp tongue and pithy sayings, Tanaka has not spared Koizumi since her return to parliament.
She has dismissed him as an old-style LDP politician incapable of carrying out the reforms he has promised, and likened him to a "spoilt brat" in a December interview for what she called his stubborn insistence on making decisions and not listening to others.
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