Iraq was ‘Blair’s big mistake’
Government minister Margaret Hodge has described the Iraq war as Tony Blair’s “big mistake” in foreign affairs, according to a local London newspaper.
The industry minister reportedly criticised the prime minister’s “moral imperialism” during a private meeting of the Fabian Society in north London.
According to The Islington Tribune, Ms Hodge indicated she had had doubts about Mr Blair’s attitude to foreign affairs as long ago as 1998.
But responding to a question from a guest at the event in Islington, she said she accepted his arguments about Iraq because “he was our leader and I trusted him”.
At the time, the Tribune claims she said: “I hope this isn’t going to be reported.”
Ms Hodge has apparently denied she made the comments. But Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell warned that if they were true, her remarks only reflected the “increasingly divided nature of the Labour party”.
“The invasion of Iraq has been the worst foreign policy decision since Suez. At last Labour ministers are beginning to acknowledge what many members of their party and the public know to be true,” he said.
During an interview for the Downing Street website yesterday, Mr Blair said people could “debate forever and a day” mistakes made in Iraq.
“But the principal reason there is a problem in Iraq today is that people are deliberately giving us a problem.it is a strategy, it is a deliberate strategy, it is the same strategy as the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan,” he said.
Asked if the US and UK had misjudged the difficulties in Iraq, he said: “Well I don’t think we underestimated the fact that after 30 to 40 years of Saddam it was going to be a very big job.
“But yes I do think, as I have said before, that we underestimated the degree to which you were going to get outside elements that were going to come in and try and foment trouble.”
However, he stressed: “One of the things that isn’t much noticed about what is happening in Iraq today is actually bit by bit, in the provinces across Iraq, the Iraqis are increasingly taking on responsibility for their own security and that is what needs to happen.”
Mr Blair has repeatedly rejected calls for an inquiry into the way the war was handled, and a motion to that effect was rejected in the House of Commons earlier this month. MPs will have another chance to discuss Iraq in a debate next Thursday.
