March 18, 2003

THREE DOWN:

Blair loses third minister over Iraq (BBC, 3/18/03)
A third minister has quit the government over the Iraq crisis as Clare Short announced she would stay in her cabinet job despite earlier threats to resign.

Home Office Minister John Denham has now followed Health Minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath in resigning on Tuesday morning.

Their resignations come in the wake of Robin Cook's departure from the cabinet after he objected to war without a fresh United Nations mandate.

Ms Short's decision to stay - despite saying she was still "very critical" of the way the crisis has been handled - is a boost for Tony Blair as he prepares to get House of Commons backing for war on Tuesday afternoon.


Those who are quitting are wrong, but they're behavinh honorably. What's Ms Short thinking?

Blair can lose 165 Labour votes befoire it will be the Tories who make the war resolution possible and 245 before the resolution would go down to defeat.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 18, 2003 7:28 AM
Comments

There's no mystery. Short is afraid her political ambitions will go down the toilet if she resigns and then the whole anti-war position is discredited by a swift victory and subsequent exposure of Saddam's misdeeds and French complicity.

Posted by: Joe at March 18, 2003 9:04 AM

She thinks if she goes her department will be emasculated by Blair taking his revenge and frankly reconstructing Iraq will keep her in the spotlight.

Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 18, 2003 10:23 AM

The problem, I think, ISN'T the prospect of the Tories (or the Lib-Dems) taking the PM-ship.



The problem is whether the Labour back-benchers can revolt, and topple Blair from w/in (in which case, they'd ask Cook to form the new government).

Posted by: Dean at March 18, 2003 10:25 AM

This reminds me a bit of Bryan resigning as sec of state when it looked like Wilson was moving towards joining WWI. After the war was won, did anyone remember that? Bryan was larger than life, unlike these three, so he himself didn't disappear. But no one would call that a shining moment for the man.

Posted by: Timothy at March 18, 2003 12:06 PM

Bryan was, of course, right. WWI was a tragic mistake on our part. Better to let the old Euros slug it out until they were exhausted.

Posted by: oj at March 18, 2003 6:27 PM

I'd call it his one shining moment.



U.S. politicians don't resign enough. I think, in particular, of Hubert Humphrey, the yellowest politician that ever kissed a baby. And is his reputation based on his craven office-grabbing during a time when (as he claimed later) he thought the government was making a mistake that cost tens of thousands of lives?



Well, no, he is remembered for his "courage" in 1948, when he went into a big room as an unknown hick and came out a hero.



I have Bryan's resignation on my short, short list of admirable political events. Funny, he didn't make it into "Profiles in Courage."

Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 18, 2003 7:27 PM

He also won the Scopes trial.

Posted by: oj at March 18, 2003 8:08 PM
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