3.8 |
Development of UK strategy and options, 8 to 20 March
2003
428.
Cabinet: “Took
note.”
429.
Mr Cook
wrote in his memoir:
“When we
began, Gordon launched a long and passionate statement of
support
for Tony’s
strategy. The contribution was rather marred by an outspoken
attack
on France:
‘the message that must go out from this Cabinet is that we pin
the
blame on
France for its isolated refusal to agree in the Security
Council’.”127
430.
Mr Cook
added that he had reminded colleagues that “when this is over, the
first
priority
must be to repair the divisions in Europe” and that the Government
should
not make
that job more difficult by sending out messages that attack France
or any
other
European country”. He had “applauded” the “ingenuity” of
Mr Blair, Mr Straw and
Sir Jeremy
Greenstock in finding new initiatives but stated that “the
intensity of our
efforts to
get agreement in the Security Council means that we cannot now
pretend
that it
does not really matter if we fail to get agreement”. Mr Cook
had warned that the
Government
“should avoid saying that we will take military action even if we
fail to get
a resolution,
as we need some flexibility to consider what we do if we find
ourselves
in that
position”.
431.
Ms Short wrote
that she had asked for “a special Cabinet with the Attorney
General
present”
and that had been agreed.128
She had
also said, “if we have UN mandate,
possible
progress on Palestine /Israel and try with the second resolution
process, it
would make
a big difference”. She was “hopeful of progress”.
•
“GB spoke
animatedly about what France was saying – no to
everything.”
•
“Jack Straw
also anti-France.”
•
“David
Blunkett [the Home Secretary] said we must stand by the PM and
Chirac
was
reckless …”
433.
Ms Short had
been advised by Mr Chakrabarti that she should focus
her
intervention
in Cabinet on the need for “a proper decision making process”,
which would
be
“important both in substance and … for the politics”. In his view,
there were two key
points to
make:
•
“Cabinet
needs to discuss now the legal opinion of the Attorney General
and
how to make
it public. This is vital for Ministers, our armed services and
the
civil service.”
127
Cook
R. The Point
of Departure. Simon
& Schuster UK Ltd, 2003.
128
Short
C. An
Honourable Deception: New Labour, Iraq and the Misuse of
Power. The Free
Press, 2004.
475