Two previous chiefs of the UK civil service have stated before the Chilcot Iraq inquiry that Tony Blair took the UK to war in Iraq with out the approval of his cabinet.
Both Lord Turnbull and Lord Wilson of Dinton totally refuted the claims made by ex Prime Minister Blair that his cabinet "knew the score" and were aware that Blair had agreed to invade Iraq after the 9/11 strike on the United States.
When both men appeared before the Chilcot war inquiry they presented a vison of new labour being a government run from the sofa!
They totally refuted the statements made by Blair to the Inquiry previously that his ministers were kept up to date on the progress leading to war.
This does go some way to explain the late Robin Cook's resignation and Gordon Brown's claim that he was kept in the dark. How a Chancellor of the Exchequer did not need to know about a forth coming war is beyond me as obviously a budget would be needed but perhaps Blair treated Gordon like a mushroom and kept him in the dark and fed him on dung!
Lord Turnbull said that the labour cabinet were not asked for their approval until the eve of the invasion.
At that time of course they had no real choice other than to comply or the PM would fall like the king in a chess game and they would lose their positions of power.
This makes the labour cabinet appear to be like putty in Blairs grip.
Lord Wilson had retired in 2002 and was in fact Turnbull's predecessor and he advised that during his period as Britain's top civil servant that the labour cabinet was not aware that a decision had already been taken to combine with the US and invade Iraq.
Was it simply that Tony Blair was to all intents and purposes a dictator and the members of his cabinet were sheep and to nervous to topple the leader as perhaps they too would fall from power?
The evidence from both Lord Wilson and Lord Turnbull contrasts with that of Blair who claimed on Friday 21st January 2011 that he first discussed the possibility of regime change of removing Saddam Hussein with Bush the American President in November 2001 and that the intention of invasion was established and known from then. Obviously well known to Blair and Bush but not to the British electorate.
Where was the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown the man of no more boom and bust at this time? Some claim he was hiding in his office trying to overthrow Blair and that could be why he was kept out of the loop. Or more likely he just wanted to keep out of Blairs way being a mouse and not an effective member of the cabinet.
Ex Prime Minister Blair was accused by Lord Turnbull of breaking the ministerial code by failing to ensure that the attorney general was asked for his advice as to the legality of the war in sufficient time.
A former senior diplomat Sir Roderic Lyne a member of the inquiry pointed out that ministers were being asked to take joint responsibility with out receiving a single paper on the possibility of a war in the last 18 months.
Lord Turnbull conceded that key documents had been kept from the cabinet. He added that it was surprising that most ex ministers had remained to loyal to Tony Blair.
Both Lord Wilson and Lord Turnbull criticised New Labour for trying to do away with cabinet government and introduce a system by which Blair could push his policy along in "ad hoc" meetings with selected groups of supporters.
They both totally rebuffed claims that the system that Blair used was similar to that during Baroness Thatcher's period as PM.
Both men had worked under Margaret Thatcher, and as you would expect, she had not cut cormers and did it by the book as she always ran a proper cabinet government.
There can be absolutely no doubt that Tony Blair failed the Country and after 13 years of Labour I have no faith at all in Ed Miliband.
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