Blair faces grilling from the press
Tony Blair has faced some difficult questions at his monthly press conference today.
The prime minister has been asked about the collapse of the case against former GCHQ translator, Katherine Gun, who was accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
He has also faced a barrage of questions about Clare Short’s revelations this morning that she had seen evidence of British agents bugging Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.
Mr Blair branded Ms Short “deeply irresponsible”, however he did not confirm or deny the allegations. He added that the UK “always act in accordance with domestic and international law.”
He said there remained “issues to reflect upon” concerning Ms Short’s claims – including whether she should continue as a Labour MP.
Concerning Ms Gun he said that the decision to drop the case was purely on the nature of the evidence, and without political interference.
Ms Gun leaked an email to the press in the run up to the Iraq war, which led to an article in the Observer newspaper alleging that the British intelligence services had been asked to bug key UN delegates.
The incident has exposed the government to fresh scrutiny over its decision to back the US invasion of Iraq last year.
