No graceful exit in sight for Blair

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair seems to be in deep trouble. The Iraq war has already cost him his job at 10 Downing Street. Under pressure from his own party, he is vacating the office for Chancellor Gordon Brown two years before the expiry of his term. One thought that was the end of his woes. But no, there is more in store making it impossible for him to fade out gracefully.

A recent poll by the Guardian/ICM suggests that support for Tony Blair is falling, indicating that the worsening situation in Iraq and the impact of the police investigation into the possible sale of honours is having an effect. Almost two-thirds of those questioned – 62 per cent -- say their opinion of Mr Blair has become worse over the last year, including 45 per cent of Labour supporters. The same poll also suggested that the issues on which Labour is most trusted are declining in importance.

To add insult to injury, a television drama broadcast on Jan 15 by Channel 4 showed the prime minister eventually facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

But in the din of the same Channel’s Celebrity Big Brother racial slur controversy involving Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, a programme devastating for the British prime minister was elbowed out.

The feature-length show, 'The Trial of Tony Blair’, taps into a powerful undercurrent of anger that many Britons have vented over the Iraq war.

The drama takes place in 2010, when Mr Blair’s designated successor Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is prime minister and Hillary Clinton is US president. According to a synopsis of the drama, Tony Blair is haunted by the continuing carnage in Iraq, and tormented by an obsession with his legacy so overpowering that it blinds him to the looming threat of an indictment by the ICC.

The programme does not feature the actual trial, as it concludes when Mr Blair is seen flying off to face war crime charges at The Hague.

The programme shows Mr Blair being subjected to the same treatment as was meted out to Saddam Hussein (fingerprinting, open- mouth investigation for DNA test etc.) after he was arrested by American troops. Scenes conveying Tony Blair’s perceived subservience to the US and his delusions of being a man of history are depicted in such a manner as to present the British leader as a pathetic dimwit.

To make matters worse for Mr Blair, London's Tricycle theatre is preparing a stage version of the trial in April, entitled “Called to Account - The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the Crime of Aggression against Iraq’,.

And early last week the fiction turned into a fact of sorts when the desperate plight of children dying in Iraqi hospitals for the lack of simple equipment that in some cases can cost as little as less than a pound was revealed in a letter to the premier signed by nearly 100 eminent doctors. They were backed by a group of international lawyers, who said the conditions in hospitals revealed in the letter amount to a breach of the Geneva conventions that require Britain and the US, as occupying force, to protect human life.

The signatories include Iraqi doctors, British doctors who have worked in Iraqi hospitals, and leading British consultants and GPs.

Asked about this letter to Mr Blair, a spokesman for the PM told reporters at the regular daily briefing at 10 Downing Street last week that the best thing was for 'us to study the letter and to reply’.

Put that it had been some weeks since the letter arrived at No10, and had it been read or studied since then, the PMOS said that 'we had a procedure for dealing with these sorts of letters, and we would follow that procedure’.

This is evasion in its most classical form. But you do evade and sidestep direct questions when you know a truthful answer will incriminate you or when you actually have no convincing answer to the question.

On the domestic front Mr Blair is confronted with two highly damaging scandals, one involving an alleged breach of OECD law on bribery ( alleged greasing of palms in a Saudi-BEA arms deal) and the other an alleged violation of law concerning perversion of course of justice ( the cash-for–peerage case).

More likely the final outcome of the investigations in these two scandals will be delayed enough to save Britain from the embarrassment of seeing one of its sitting prime ministers trying to explain the unexplainable and facing criminal charges.

Some Labour MPs have warned that if anyone from No 10 were to be charged, Mr Blair’s position would be untenable: “The mood in the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] is that as soon as one of the key players is charged, then there is no way out for him.”

CASH-FOR PEERAGE: The open warfare that broke out between Downing Street and the police after Ruth Turner’s (a close aide of Mr Blair) arrest has caused further damage to Mr Blair’s integrity as those Labour MPs who have spoken against the police are said to be very close to the Prime Minister and are suspected to have acted at the instigation of Mr. Blair.

The police are understood to be investigating e-mails and conversations between Blair’s most senior aides discussing which financial backers of the Labour party should be honoured.

Detectives have established that Lord Levy, Labour’s chief fundraiser who is on police bail, was party to these discussions, despite having no formal role in the process. They also have evidence revealing that Levy discussed peerages with at least one donor at 'social functions’.

Friday’s arrest indicates police believe that Ms Turner and, potentially, other key aides may have sought to conceal crucial information.

According to Lord Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister, the issue of the sale of honours has been the subject of debate for the whole of the last century but what has not been around was the suggestion that No 10 could be perverting the course of justice.

What would happen, if at all it is proved that Blair or his close aides did try to prevent the course of justice? Well, one simply has to go back into recent history of such cases, the best example of which is Watergate. It was not the original crime which brought the downfall of Mr. Nixon but his attempts to cover up the original misdemeanour.

So, there is this wider belief here that if the police came upon some evidence suggesting that information relevant to their inquiry into the cash-for-peerage case has been destroyed, no matter what the quality of the information or its level of relevance, they would have a basis to proceed.

Security beefed up

WITH the start of the month of Muharram, the district administration and police have adopted unprecedented security measures. About 20 places have been declared sensitive by dividing them in different categories by Regional Police Officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal and DIG (operations) Khadim Hussain Bhatti to avoid any untoward incident.

At a meeting held here the other day, both officers directed the police to be on high alert at their duty place till Ashura. The meeting was told that a DSP, an inspector and around 60 constables and razakars would be deployed at an imambargah of category A, while as many as 24 and 12 constables and razakars besides an inspector, a sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspectors, would be deployed for categories B and C, respectively.

The district administration also adopted strict measures around mosques and imambargahs throughout the district and imposed section 144 under which pillion riding has been banned till Muharram 10.

District coordination officer Manzer Hayat and city district government nazim Fiaz Ahmad Chattha would monitor the law and order situation during Muharram. It was stated that as many as 1,419 majalis would be held and 496 mourner processions would be taken out.

A HIGH-LEVEL meeting here accorded approval to uplift projects under the Punjab chief minister’s development package and decided to buy 40 more containers for revamping the cleanliness system in the four towns of the city.

The meeting, which was attended by minister for state Shahid Akram Bhinder, provincial ministers Rana Shamshad Ahmad Khan, Dr Sohail Zafer Cheema and Ms Zile Huma Usman, MPAs Ms Nayyer Murtaza Lone and Ashraf Kamboh, city district government nazim Fiaz Ahmad Chattha and other senior officers the other day, was told by the DCO at a briefing that almost all big roads of the city, including Gondlanwala Road, Hafizabad Road and Sialkot Road, would be constructed, besides the green belt along the GT Road from Chand da Qila By-pass intersection to Rawalpindi By-pass intersection.

It was pointed out during the meeting that the Punjab chief minister would inaugurate these projects shortly under which the water supply and sewerage system would be revamped. Two milkmen’s colonies would be constructed outside the city at Dogaranwala village and Kot Jai Singh. The meeting was told that four recreation parks would also be constructed at suitable places in the city.

THE Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Gujranwala’s one-window operation started functioning when board chairman Masoodul Haq inaugurated it here the other day. The one-window facility has been constructed outside the main gate where separate counters have been formed for matric and intermediate examination-related matters, NOC, or other information while a separate counter has been set up for girl candidates where a lady official has been deployed.

The board chairman speaking at the one-window operation inauguration ceremony said that candidates were being provided better facilities under one roof and sufficient staff have been deployed there to resolve their problems within a few minutes. Board secretary Chaudhry Muhammad Anwer said that now the entry of irrelevant persons had been banned in the board complex and all board employees had been issued official identity cards which were displayed on their chest.

NATIONAL commission for government reforms chairman Dr Ishrat Hussain has said that good governance and transparent utilisation of funds in uplift projects would be ensured, besides revamping the system to provide relief and better facilities to the people. Speaking at a meeting here the other day, he urged the city district government to get all uplift projects completed within their stipulated period so as to launch more schemes.

He expressed the hope that almost all city roads would be constructed soon under the Punjab chief minister’s development package of Rs7 billion while the longstanding issues of sewerage and disposal of solid waste would be resolved.

District coordination officer Manzer Hayat, city district nazim Fiaz Hussain Chattha and heads of other government departments briefed him about the output of their departments. Earlier, he paid surprise visits to Jinnah Library in Trust Plaza, DHQ Hospital and the Civil Lines police station.

He also called on a delegation of traders and the chamber of commerce and industry. He said that the DHQ Hospital would be upgraded and a medical college be established for better treatment of patients. Senior officers of the district administration accompanied him.