Tony Blair secretly promised George Bush he would lead a public relations drive to advertise the Iraq Struggle, it was revealed final evening.
The previous prime minister’s pledge, which was accepted by the then US president, is disclosed in a Downing Road memo leaked to the Every day Mail.
It was written by Mr Blair’s overseas coverage chief Sir David Manning sooner or later after Mr Blair’s summit with Mr Bush on the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002, a yr earlier than the battle.
It was not till two years after the warfare that proof emerged suggesting Mr Blair had ‘signed in blood’ at Crawford a deal to again Mr Bush’s plan to bomb Iraq.
Ex-PM Tony Blair (left) secretly promised George Bush (proper) he’d ‘spin’ the Iraq warfare to the world
However proof of Mr Blair’s function in manipulating public opinion was clear a lot earlier, together with his press chief Alastair Campbell clashing with the BBC when it accused the Authorities of ‘sexing up’ the case for warfare.
The battle was over the infamous ’45-minute file’, which was spun to newspapers as suggesting Saddam Hussein might hit British targets in Cyprus with weapons of mass destruction inside 45 minutes of an order by the Iraqi dictator.
Sir David’s memo additionally exhibits that Mr Blair made the choice to again the warfare – nearly a complete yr earlier than it started – after Mr Bush blithely informed him he didn’t know who would substitute Saddam and wasn’t bothered about that.
The official inquiry into the Iraq Struggle dominated that failure to plan for the post-conflict section was one of many greatest blunders by Mr Bush and Mr Blair.
The memo was leaked because the quantity of people that have signed a petition calling for Sir Tony’s knighthood to be rescinded handed a million.
Sir David is credited with taking part in a significant function in brokering the Iraq Struggle pact between Mr Blair and Mr Bush. He makes it clear his memo – despatched to then overseas secretary Jack Straw’s principal personal secretary Simon McDonald and copied to Mr Blair’s No 10 chief of workers Jonathan Powell – was high secret.
It was ‘exceptionally delicate’ and Mr Blair had ordered that it’s ‘very tightly held’ with ‘no additional copies’ made.
In impact, Mr Blair – whose ‘New Labour’ was infamous for its use of PR ‘spinning’ underneath Mr Campbell – was providing to behave as a world spin physician for Mr Bush, seen by some as much less subtle
Anti-war protesters are seen massed in Hyde Park throughout an illustration in opposition to warfare with Iraq in London on February 15, 2003
Sir David, who attended the talks at Crawford with Mr Blair, Mr Bush and Mr Powell, says the prime minister informed the president he might assist with ‘the PR facet’ of his secret plan to bomb Iraq.
In impact, Mr Blair – whose ‘New Labour’ was infamous for its use of PR ‘spinning’ underneath Mr Campbell – was providing to behave as a world spin physician for Mr Bush, seen by some as much less subtle.
He informed the president PR was important to steer sceptical EU leaders and voters of the significance of letting UN inspectors seek for Saddam’s supposed stockpile of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (WMDs).
The memo says: ‘Bush accepted we would have liked to handle the PR with nice care. The PM mentioned we needed to be cautious how we framed the UN inspectors’ ultimatum to Saddam.
‘We would have liked an accompanying PR technique to handle European public opinion. Bush agreed.
‘If, because the PM anticipated, Saddam did not co-operate with UN inspectors, the Europeans would discover it more durable to withstand the logic that we should take motion to cope with an evil regime.’
The previous prime minister additionally informed Mr Bush: ‘We might nonetheless face the query of why we had determined to behave now, what had modified?’
Then Prime Minister Tony Blair (second from proper) talks with Main Common Richard Shirreff CBE (second from left) as he visits British troops in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2006
Mr Blair would say ignoring such dangers might ‘power us to take extra expensive motion later’.
Within the weeks earlier than the warfare Mr Blair visited all main EU nations in a bid to steer them to again the warfare. However his PR marketing campaign failed and resulted in acrimony when he accused France of sabotaging his try and receive UN help.
The memo additionally reveals Mr Bush had scant regard for what would possibly occur after the warfare.
He issued a rallying cry to Mr Blair: ‘No matter plan emerged we had to make sure victory. We couldn’t afford to fail.’
However Sir David notes warily that Mr Bush had produced ‘quite a lot of imponderables’.
He wrote: ‘He did not know who would take Saddam’s place if and after we toppled him.
‘However he did not a lot care. He was engaged on the idea that anybody could be an enchancment.’
Hopes that the autumn of Saddam would carry peace in Iraq haven’t been borne out. It was plunged into bloody strife that continues to this present day.
Mr Blair and Mr Bush’s hope that they’d discover WMDs in Iraq was dashed when Saddam allowed UN inspectors in – they usually discovered nothing.
They determined to go forward with the warfare after Downing Road produced the later discredited ‘dodgy file’ that claimed Saddam had WMDs.
Sir David hints that as early because the Crawford summit, Mr Blair had doubts about counting on the UN inspectors. He informed Sir David ‘privately’ that Mr Bush realised it was ‘attainable Saddam would enable the inspectors in’.
Mr Blair mentioned if that occurred they’d ‘have to regulate our method accordingly’.
He additionally informed Mr Bush to ‘ramp up’ stress on Saddam and if he blocked UN inspectors the US and UK had the appropriate to ‘go in and cope with him’.