Aides urge Blair to admit Iraq mistakes

Statement would help to heal party wounds, Prime Minister told

by Martin Bright

Tony Blair is coming under growing pressure from some of his closest aides to apologise for mistakes made during the Iraq conflict and its aftermath, The Observer can reveal.

While the Prime Minister has so far resisted the calls, aides in his inner circle believe a speech clarifying his view on weapons of mass destruction and an admission that the aftermath of the war has not gone entirely as planned would help win back public trust and heal a fractured Labour Party.

Party managers recognise that Blair will have to address the issue of Iraq in his conference speech at the end of the month, but are said to be even more concerned about the way Iraq continues to play badly with the electorate.

One member of Blair’s inner circle with close links to the Labour Party rank-and-file told The Observer that discussions over a possible speech were continuing, but that the Prime Minister had yet to be moved by the arguments.

Officially, Downing Street last night said the Prime Minister has already admitted that Iraq has been deeply divisive inside the Labour Party and among the wider British public.

Downing Street is bracing itself for the final report of the Iraq Survey Group, which is thought to have found little new evidence of weapons programmes, but hopes to draw a line under the issue. A spokesman said last night: ’The Prime Minister remains convinced that it was right to take the actions taken.’

He confirmed the Prime Minister was adamant that no further clarification or apology was necessary, but added: ’I don’t want to pretend that these matters are not discussed. In Downing Street, all sorts of conversations take place. But it is not clear what form such a clarification would take. We have acknowledged that the issue has been divisive and that we might not find weapons of mass destruction.’

But some close to the Prime Minister believe there could yet be a way of apologising to the public without admitting errors of judgment over the key decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

President Bush has admitted that mistakes have been made in Iraq since the official end of hostilities in April 2003 and it is thought that a Blair clarification might take a similar form.

Downing Street is thought to have been deeply shaken by the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison earlier this year and believed that they were potentially more damaging than claims that the government had misled the public over the threat from weapons of mass destruction.

It is well-documented that the Prime Minister and his inner circle had serious concerns that, during the build-up to war throughout 2002, failure to gain UN backing could destroy party unity and even bring down the government. The intervention of French President Jacques Chirac in March 2003 to apparently rule out a second UN resolution authorising force gave a way out, but for many in the party this remains a serious issue of concern.

Labour Party membership hit a new low of 215,000 this month, and has nearly halved since Blair came to power in 1997. Some are urging him to make an announcement at the party conference about the date of withdrawal of British troops from southern Iraq.

Mark Seddon, editor of the left-wing Labour magazine Tribune and a National Executive Committee member, said: ’An apology is the right thing to do to encourage people back to the Labour Party. But the Iraqis have shown themselves capable of dealing with the situation in Najaf without British or American help. Now might be the right time for Blair to take the initiative and announce the date for the withdrawal of the first units of British troops.’

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1297563,00.html