Hoon refuses to budge
The war widow of Sgt Steve Roberts, killed in Iraq after being ordered to hand over protective armour due to equipment shortages, has renewed her call for the resignation of Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.
But Mr Hoon, who held an hour-long meeting with Samantha Roberts yesterday, refused to take responsibility for the logistical error that led to the soldier – a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment – passing on his protective chest plates to an infantryman in Basra last March, a week before he took a bullet to the chest.
Mrs Roberts, 32, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, told Channel Four last night: “Geoff Hoon said he was sorry for Steve’s death, for which we accept his apology. We asked him today of he accepted responsibility for Steve’s death and he did not accept that responsibility.
“We went in today and told him our concerns about kit shortages and the impression we got today was that he did not seem to think that there was an issue with that. He is consistent because he has said that these were not issues and he has said that again today.”
On what Mr Roberts had to gain from relentlessly pursuing Mr Hoon, she said: “How can I be politically motivated? I have nothing to gain from this.
“What I have got to gain is my own peace of mind to know that I have done everything that I can to make sure that someone else is not in the same position as I am now. Steve has gone. He cannot be brought back.”
Mrs Roberts said she needed to be “reassured that this is not going to happen again.”
She said Mr Hoon should consider his position “very seriously” because someone ought to take direct responsible for her husband’s death. She said he had “one last chance.”
Nicholas Soames, Tory defence secretary, said Mr Hoon must take responsibility for this error and resign.
But Tony Blair’s official spokesman yesterday said Mr Hoon had the “full confidence” of his leader.
