Short attacks Blair's 'secret Iraq chaos'
Tony Blair critic Clare Short before Iraq inquiry
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UK planning for the invasion of Iraq and subsequent humanitarian efforts were characterised by secretiveness, deception and a complete lack of coherence, Claire Short has told the inquiry into the war.
The former international development secretary told Sir John Chilcot's inquiry in central London that she was not invited to discussions over policy framework and prevented from raising concerns over post-invasion Iraq in Tony Blair's Cabinet.
During an outspoken attack on the way in which No 10 conducted itself during the build-up to the war Ms Short said that Saddam Hussein had no links to al-Qaida and that then attorney general Lord Goldsmith misled Cabinet in saying there was legal basis for the war.
Analysis: Clare Short's long-awaited applause
Repeating comments she made in interviews over the weekend Ms Straw said then chancellor Gordon Brown felt "marginalised" by Mr Blair.
Ms Short told the inquiry that she shared cups of coffee with the now prime minister in which they agreed that the UK should not go to war without the UN.
Ms Short has faced criticism in previous evidence sessions with Mr Blair's former press chief Alastair Campbell calling her untrustworthy.
Ms Short, who stood down two months into the war in 2003, said normal communications between ministers were closed down and replaced by what Mr Blair dubbed "ad hoc committees" during his lengthy evidence session last Friday, involving only the former prime minister's inner circle.
She said these "little chats" represented a "deliberate blockage" of Cabinet discussions.
"It's just not a proper way to proceed if you are discussing things that other departments are meant to be preparing for," she said.
"I think this is a chaotic way of doing things."
Ms Short added: "I believe in the old-fashioned civil service way of running things. I think if ministers should be in charge of their department then all voices should come to the table... you improve things by that kind of discussion.
"The government didn't act like that. Power was pulled into No 10; everything was announced to the media; the House of Commons was a rubber-stamp.
"In the case of Iraq there was secretiveness and deception on top of that."
Characterising the advisers that Mr Blair surrounded himself with prior to March 2003 Ms Short said: "You keep Tony's favour and Alastair doesn't brief against you if you do what he wants."
Declassified correspondence released on the Iraq inquiry website showed Ms Short expressing concern that she was not not being invited to discussions on a new policy framework for Iraq in March 2001.
In a letter dated February 14th 2003 to Mr Blair she warned that the "vulnerability of the Iraqi people to humanitarian catastrophe should not be underestimated".
And later on March 5th, just 15 days before the invasion, she said the United Nations had to be at the forefront of the reconstruction programme in Iraq, and that international backing for the war was essential for this to happen.
In his evidence to the inquiry last Friday, Mr Blair admitted that he was having "quite difficult exchanges of correspondence" with Ms Short in early 2003.
"She was getting worried that the humanitarian side was not going to be adequately advanced," he explained, before declaring that there was no humanitarian disaster in post-invasion Iraq.
"In fact, we avoided, and we avoided in many ways because of the work that DFID and the other agencies did."
Ms Short came in for sharp criticism after her resignation, with her detractors saying she should have resigned prior to the war over her objections, as then leader of the House Robin Cook had done.
She added that she had booked her slot with the speaker to make her resignation speech before an angry Mr Blair telephoned her and asked her to nevertheless stay to avoid two Cabinet resignations in one day.
She has since been a firm critic of the workings of government however, resigning the whip in 2006 ahead of standing down as an MP at the next general election.