by Chris Mullin
Gordon Prentice remarked that he had not met anyone who agreed with our position on Iraq and that in any case there wasn’t the slightest chance of replacing Saddam with a democracy. To which The Man replied that just because we couldn’t introduce democracy wasn’t an excuse for doing nothing. He added that the British public were open to persuasion. They were not saying no, but simply asking legitimate questions such as whether there was a casus belli. ‘I wanted the moment to come a bit later, but if the international community backs down, Saddam will take that as a green light.’
Andrew Mackinlay said that he thought The Man’s stewardship of events so far had been absolutely correct. He added to laughter, ‘That will be one life peerage, if you don’t mind.’
Later, I received a message asking me to go and see Robin Cook, who wanted to talk about Iraq. Robin said, ‘My star is not high at the moment because of my lack of enthusiasm for bombing Iraq.’ At yesterday’s Cabinet only Clare and he spoke against a war. ‘Estelle asked some serious questions. Everyone else was keen on demonstrating their loyalty to Tony.’ However, he detects some tension between Number 10 and the Foreign Office. Jack’s speech this afternoon had, said Robin, been the greatest encomium to the United Nations that he had ever heard. When he remarked on this afterwards Jack had replied, ‘I’m glad you noticed.’
Robin is not entirely gloomy. ‘The regime may implode. There are signs. And Tony is right when he says that the Americans will take more interest in rebuilding Iraq than they did Afghanistan, if only because Iraq has oil.’
Will we support the Americans if they go it alone? ‘I don’t know.
It will depend on public opinion, not opinion in the party. He might not, if he can’t get away with it. Tony is a shrewd politician.’
As I was leaving Robin said, ‘We’ll just have to hope that there isn’t a war because there isn’t the money to pay for it. Our spending plans may have to be trimmed.’
Monday, 30 September
Party Conference
To Blackpool arriving in time for the debate on the public finance initiative. For a while I found myself sitting behind Peter Mandelson, who spent much of the time talking into his mobile. While he was speaking a nervous young woman appeared with a note which she slid into his hand. Without addressing so much as a glance in her direction he waved her imperiously to one side and continued with his conversation, eventually deigning to acknowledge her existence, but only after the poor girl had been left in no doubt of her insignificance, at least so far as this great panjandrum is concerned. And Peter wonders why no one loves him …
Tuesday, 1 October
On my way to a lunchtime fringe meeting I came across Clare Short, full of good cheer, sitting in sunshine outside a café. She thought yesterday’s Iraq debate had gone well. ‘I was proud of the Labour Party,’ she said. ‘We need to tie the government to the UN. I trust Jack, but not Tony.’ On Afghanistan she thinks we need to create a united Afghan army and secure the whole country – which The Man is in favour of anyway. We talked about asylum policy. ‘It’s in a mess,’ she said. She then went on to outline her own plan for dealing with it:
genuine asylum seekers should be allowed to work instead of being left to fester for years; economic migrants should be sent home as soon as possible, preferably within a week. I said that wouldn’t be possible under the UN conventions. ‘If necessary, I would resile from them,’ she said. She added that Blunkett was about to start repatriating Zimbabweans at a time when half the country was facing famine.
The Foreign Office had given the go-ahead, but she had warned against.
I didn’t go in for The Speech. Instead I went back to the hotel and watched on television. As ever it was full of stirring stuff (lots of talk about the need for boldness). The delivery was brilliant, but I am afraid I dozed off.
The Tribune rally was held in a tacky nightclub which it took me half an hour to locate. Given the location, they did well to fill it although the audiences are half what they used to be 20 years ago.
The speeches were lacklustre with one notable exception: Christopher Hitchens, who argued the case for military intervention in Iraq. He appealed to those present ‘as internationalists, as people who can think for yourselves’. It was not a war on Iraq that was proposed, he argued, but a war on Saddam. He urged the left to be a little self-critical. ‘Why do we spend our time urging our prime minister to give Saddam yet another chance?’ He went on, ‘If the left had its way, General Galtieri would still be President of Argentina; Milosevic would still be in power in Belgrade; Kosovo would be an empty wilderness; Mullah Omar would still be in Kabul.’ It was a courageous speech, cleverly delivered. He managed to challenge all the received wisdoms without rubbing anyone’s nose in it. Most people had the sense to see that he might have a point, even if they didn’t agree. He was heard in silence and applauded politely.
Afterwards I went for a drink with Christopher. He was surprisingly upbeat about George Bush. ‘He’s not conceited. He knows his limitations. The people around him know what they are doing. The long-term plan is to reduce dependence on Saudi oil.’ I put to him the counter arguments: chaos, civilian casualties, the danger that Saddam if cornered will resort to chemical weapons. Christopher dismissed them all. He reckons the regime is crumbling and that the odds are it will implode without the need for an invasion. Fingers crossed that he is right.
Wednesday, 2 October
Passing up the chance to commune with Bill Clinton, I went with the Ramblers’ Association for their annual conference walk. About 20 people turned out, including Jeff Rooker and Andrew Bennett. We were taken by minibus about an hour north. From there we followed a four-mile circular route and had a pub lunch. The views were stunning. Over lunch I remarked to Andrew Bennett, apropos of Iraq, that The Man had gone out too far ahead of the party. ‘Yes,’ replied Andrew, ‘almost as far as Ramsay MacDonald.’
Tuesday, 15 October
Passed Robert Hill in the corridor behind the Speaker’s chair. ‘Tony’s rowed out a long way ahead of the public, never mind the party, on Iraq,’ I said.
‘He’s aware of that,’ said Robert. ‘And working day and night to keep George Bush onside with the UN. There are phone calls nearly every day.’
‘We have hitched our wagon to the least credible US President since Nixon,’ I said. ‘Tony may think Bush is intelligent and easy to deal with, but the public doesn’t see it that way.’
Wednesday, 16 October
At the parliamentary committee I passed The Man a cutting from the Guardian about an Afghani woman who had lost her husband and six of her eleven children in one of America’s ‘mistakes’ and who was still living in the rubble of her ruined home, not having received a penny by way of help. ‘I want to know what we are doing to help such people in general and this woman in particular,’ I said. He glanced at the cutting and passed it to an aide. I said I was serious about this. We had to take responsibility for our actions. Later, I told David Hanson that I wanted a serious response, not a lot of Foreign Office blather. I don’t intend to let the subject drop.
Thursday, 17 October
Everyone is talking about the dire state of the Conservative Party. Apparently (I wasn’t present) Iain Duncan Smith was slaughtered at Questions yesterday. Both Portillo and Ken Clarke have been putting themselves about this week and they were much in evidence at the recent Tory conference. It is inconceivable that they would elect Portillo. Clarke (who looks fat and unhealthy) might be a possibility if the government decided not to hold a referendum on the Euro. According to Andy McSmith, the real problem is the Tory party. ‘The membership is elderly and most of them would like Winston to lead them. If they can’t have Winston, they’d like Thatcher.’ Could it be that the Tories are in terminal decline? Phil Willis and David Miliband, with whom I travelled home, think it a possibility although Tory roots are strong and they have vast resources to call upon. Plus, as someone said the other day a lot of people want to vote for a nasty part
y. They will come back.
Monday, 21 October
Tea with M, who called in en route to Washington. He says The Man is doing okay on Iraq. Bush listens to him. He added, ‘I get the distinct impression that, whatever they say in public, HMG thinks an attack on Iraq would be insane. They are backing Bush into a corner, tying him down with lots of little ropes.’ M says the Americans have lost interest in Afghanistan. All they are doing is handing out dollars to warlords. ‘Exactly the conditions that led to the rise of the Taliban in the first place.’
Tuesday, 22 October
JP made a statement on the looming dispute with the firefighters. He went out of his way to avoid offending them (in contrast to recent noises from Downing Street which speak of ‘Scargillites’). David Davis responded for the Tories. He did his best not to sound too gleeful, but couldn’t resist a bit of hyperbole about a return to the dark days of the seventies – and who can blame him? The Tories demanded to know why the soldiers who will be standing in for the firefighters in the event of a strike will only be allowed to use the ancient Green Goddesses when there is modern equipment available. A good question. After all, the equipment belongs to the public, not the firefighters. Why should it be confined to barracks when lives are at risk? JP responded by accusing them of wanting to inflame the situation. An answer he may be able to get away with this week, while there is still a possibility that a strike can be avoided, but it won’t wash once the strike starts. It worries me that JP has been put in charge. I fear he will opt for a fudge when what is needed is an exemplary defeat.
To an upper committee room to listen to Jack Straw. What benefits do we get out of our relationship with America, Peter Temple Morris wanted to know? Jack bravely insisted that, despite the odd hiccup, America was a force for good reflecting, he asserted, European values. It was also the only superpower. ‘The reason I bite my tongue,’ he added, ‘is because I want to support all those Americans who want to keep America within the international system.’
‘I find it hard to accept that Americans are a force for good,’ said Julia Drown. ‘They are selfish and imperialist.’
‘I know what you are saying,’ replied Jack. ‘I wouldn’t have voted Republican either. There are some complete raving nutcases in Washington who want a holy war.’ Hastily he added that the raving nutcases weren’t in the Administration. ‘I know for a fact that Bush doesn’t want a war.’
Wednesday, 23 October
A briefing with JP and Nick Raynsford on our problem with the firefighters. Several people wanted to know why we were still relying on Green Goddesses. ‘What happens to the newer engines when they are finished with?’ ‘That’s what we asked,’ said JP. Apparently they are sold off to other countries rather than being kept in reserve.
An incredible state of affairs. Apparently it had not occurred to anyone that we might need to provide our armed forces with something better than 50-year-old Green Goddesses in the event of another strike. JP seemed to think there was still an outside chance that a strike could be averted. ‘But something will have to move by the weekend. Either we move together or we move unilaterally.’
Ann Clwyd, who has just returned from Afghanistan, reported to the parliamentary committee that the situation was desperate – ‘a bullet away from civil war’, she had been told. Karzai was referred to contemptuously as ‘the mayor of Kabul’. Everyone was asking for an expansion of the intervention force. The Man replied, as he did last week, that he remained hopeful that the force could be expanded once the Germans took over. He added that he had followed up Ann’s suggestion that Saddam and his cronies be indicted for war crimes.
The police weren’t keen, but they had been asked to take another look. JP reported that the Afghan vice-president and his fearsome defence minister had paid him a visit. There was some merriment when The Man suggested a job swap – JP would make a good warlord.
On the victims of the bombings, which I raised last week, The Man said the Americans were willing to pay compensation; it was just a question of receiving and processing claims. I don’t believe that for a minute, but we must hold them to it. He promised to put it in writing.
Someone mentioned elected mayors – in the wake of another crop of bad results last week. ‘I don’t think there will be any more,’ said JP merrily (he has been opposed from the outset). ‘It’s been an interesting little experiment.’ He added that we had quietly stopped forcing local authorities to hold referendums on the subject.
At about 11 p.m. I heard that Estelle Morris has resigned.
Thursday, 24 October
Everyone is talking about Estelle. Her resignation came as a bolt from the blue, given that she seemed to have weathered the storms of the summer. A big blow. She is modest, unassuming, down to earth, and knows education inside out. A perfect antidote to some of the slick New Labour types who inhabit the upper reaches. Just the sort of politician we needed more of. Some people are saying she was hounded out of office by the Harmsworth Lie Machine, but actually she was a victim of New Labour’s love affair with targets. Blunkett planted the bomb several years ago by saying he would resign if his education targets were not met. Later, Estelle was asked at a select committee hearing if she, too, would go and – not wanting to contradict her superior – agreed that she would. The years passed and her words came back to haunt her. Blunkett meanwhile was long gone. It’s what the Americans call ‘blow back’.
To Chelmsford to see Mum who is in Broomfield Hospital with pneumonia. Her fourth or fifth fall. She and Dad could easily afford help, but they won’t hear of it. They are so stubborn.
Mum was lying in bed with a drip in her arm. Frail and shaky but in good spirits. I insisted she wear an alarm and for the first time she accepted that it might be necessary.
Tuesday, 29 October
Oh dear, I am in trouble. My speech opposing Robin Cook’s modernisation plans to finish business three hours earlier went badly wrong. I have ended up offending not just The Sisters, but a number of my friends. I had put down an amendment forcing a separate vote on Wednesday sittings which Robin – fearing he might lose – was anxious to avoid. He was not best pleased and circulated a crib sheet describing mine as ‘a wrecking amendment’. The modernisers were well organised and when I got up to speak they were all around me heckling and trying to intervene. ‘Get a life,’ shouted that ambitious pipsqueak from the Rhondda. I was doing all right until about halfway when I chanced a little joke. (‘If I was a spouse living at the other end of the country, I would want to be assured that my other half was snug in the warm bosom of the Mother of Parliaments and not wandering the streets with too much time on his hands and too much money in his pockets.’) From this point onwards they all went bananas. The harassment became so bad that the Deputy Speaker had to intervene in order that I be heard. I sat down to some hear-hearing from the Tories, but with just about everyone else I had blown it. Jean Corston was furious with me for not giving way to her in the debate. She thought I’d deliberately ignored her, but in truth I hadn’t seen her (I eventually managed to convince her of this). Dawn Primarolo, a friend for over 20 years, told me that she thought my speech was ‘despicable’. Even so, the vote when it came was close. There was some tension since no one had a clue how it would go. In the event it was carried 274 to 267. So they only just got away with it. We have once again voted for our own convenience over the public interest. (Diane Abbott told me she had voted for the reduction in hours ‘out of naked self-interest’.) The quality of scrutiny will not be improved one iota. On the contrary, it will be diminished. How on earth are we going to cram all the activity that goes on in this place – select committees, standing committees, backbench committees – into a day that is three hours shorter? And what are the 450 of us who can’t return to our families on weekday evenings supposed to do after seven o’clock? Wander around the building in twilight?
By a stroke of bad luck elections for the parliamentary committee are due next week. I will be lucky to survive.
Wednesday, 30 October
A rescue operation is underway. Jean and I plotted over lunch at the Dispatch Box café how to organise a comeback. ‘Lucky your amendment was defeated,’ she said, ‘otherwise you would certainly be off the committee’ (a price worth paying, I thought, but I didn’t want to upset her again). Jean says that two people had remarked to her that they used to regard me as a role model, but never again. All sorts of unlikely people have chosen to interpret my remarks as a personal slur (‘I’ve been married for 42 years and I don’t need this shit,’ Ken Purchase raged at me in the Tea Room). Oh dear, oh dear. Why are they so damn precious? Don’t they recognise a joke when they see one. Joke. J.O.K.E. Never mind, dear Jean is beavering away on my behalf. We agreed that I should write a bland little note soliciting the votes of the hundred or so Labour members in my lobby last night. Jean meanwhile will try to mend fences with some of my erstwhile supporters. By late this afternoon she reported that she had spoken to Hilary Armstrong who agreed that it was in the general interest that I should be preserved. Jean also reported a conversation with Robin in which she had suggested that revenge ought to be avoided. Robin, she said, was cool. However, twice during the day he went out of his way to strike up a conversation, which suggests that he is anxious to limit the fallout. The other good news is that I have made up with Dawn.
To the parliamentary committee, possibly my last. There was no mention of the events of last night. Instead we jumped ineffectually from one issue to another – Afghanistan, Chechnya, regional assemblies, the row over Andrew Adonis, the Downing Street adviser who is alleged to be urging politically disastrous university top-up fees upon us. John Reid making his first appearance as party chairman urged us not to play what he called the media game over special advisers. ‘There are half a million civil servants and 70 or 80 special advisers. The fact is these are our people. Our people,’ he repeated. That, of course, is precisely the problem. There are those who suspect that Andrew Adonis is not one of our people.