Blair pressed over Mallon criticism
SDLP MP Seamus Mallon’s accusation that Tony Blair has damaged politics in Northern Ireland by pandering to Sinn Fein was the main feature of Prime Minister’s Question Time this afternoon.
Conservative leader Michael Howard asked the Prime Minister for a response to Mr Mallon’s comments, and said it was obvious to everyone “that Sinn Fein IRA are up to their necks in criminal activity.”
He quoted an interview given to the Daily Telegraph by Mr Mallon in which he said: “If you look at all the side deals, the lesson Sinn Fein got from Blair and Bertie Ahern was the more often you ask, the more often you get.”
Mr Mallon went on to say that Sinn Fein “damn well near lived in Downing Street”, and gave the electorate the message that “these are the people we should support because they are the people doing the deals”.
Mr Blair said he disagreed with the remarks and pointed out the SDLP conference themselves had ruled that they would not go into a government exclusive of Sinn Fein.
He added that working closely with Sinn Fein had been a necessary part of securing progress; the reason an inclusive Northern Ireland executive was not up and running, he continued, was because the price of government was giving up links with terrorism and criminal activity.
Mr Blair said of Mr Howard’s comments: “It can get a cheer, but I don’t actually think it is much help.”
In their first exchange, Mr Howard tackled the Prime Minister over police numbers and the crime rate in Nottingham, following comments by the Chief Constable of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary that his force was “reeling” with the number of murders and had to “borrow” officers from other forces.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy pressed the Prime Minister for a date for the withdrawal of British troops, following a decision by the Italian government to pull out some of their troops.
In response to Mr Howard, Mr Blair quoted statistics from the last twelve months stating that crime in Nottinghamshire had fallen by eight per cent, burglary was down 17 per cent and robbery was down 24 per cent. Citing the “record” number of police officers in Nottinghamshire, he asked how Mr Howard would achieve this while freezing the Home Office budget.
Mr Howard responded by claiming that a Conservative government would provide Nottingham with 740 extra police officers over the next eight years, compared to the 300 that Labour had added over the previous eight. He also pointed out that since 1999 recorded crime had increased by a fifth, while violent crime was up by more than half.
But Mr Blair questioned how this was consistent with freezing the Home Office Budget and making £35 billion worth of cuts.
Charles Kennedy asked Mr Blair about his discussions with the Italian prime minister over the withdrawal of 3,000 Italian troops from Iraq and the implications that it had for the UK.
Mr Blair replied that the Government had always said it would leave when the Iraqi forces were sufficiently built up, adding: “Neither the Italian government or ourselves have set a timetable for withdrawal.”
Mr Kennedy used his second question to ask Mr Blair to confirm whether the Cabinet had seen the full legal opinion from Attorney General on the case for going to war with Iraq.
Mr Blair said it was “absurd” to suggest that there was some form of secret opinion saying that the war was unlawful, adding that the Attorney General was present at the Cabinet meeting in question to answer in person any questions from Cabinet members.
