Short changed

Clare Short's testimony today to the Iraq inquiry drew applause from the onlookers, but to my mind and In know that of many others, hearing Ms Short justifying her support of Mr Blair and her mistakes in doing so only served to highlight what a fool she was and remains. But more than that, it really does make you wish that Robin Cook, the one cabinet member who did resign over Iraq, was still alive to given evidence.

Clearly Robin Cook was cleverer that Ms Short because she failed to see what the rest of us and he could see, and that was the plain fact that the war was wrong. Ms Short's excuse that she supported the war because the Attorney General said it was legal simply does not stack up with her criticism of Blair today. She complained that he made decisions and expected them to be rubber stamped. The problem was, she was one of those people doing the rubber stamping. Had she followed Robin Cook out of the cabinet, it would have increased the pressure on Blair and perhaps encouraged more ministers to speak up, develop a back bone or grow a pair !

Sadly, we'll never know what difference Ms Short having some common sense in March 2003 might have had on the government. What we do know now is that she wants to blame Blair without, in my opinion, taking any real blame on her own shoulders.