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Kellyland is our Westland. Not the kiss of death (except for the Blair-Campbell marriage) but the knell of change, and like Westland, so complex it needs exegisis, barrister skills and the collective IQ of the columnist class, most of whom are now going abroad to rest overheated brains. What it doesn`t need is a judicial enquiry with more discretion than investigation skill by a conservative figure who`s better at burying bodies in the tradition of Denning, Widgery and Franks than digging and delving. Let me tell you what happened for free.
Tony over-egged the Iraq pudding. As the Great Explainer he always does, but he means it, how he means it, at the time. Barristers always start from the conclusion (my client, George Bush, is a great guy) and work backwards to the evidence to support it.
Alistair then did the boss`s bidding brilliantly. The launch in 45 minutes claim (which we should have said was a misprint for `years`) was there when the “Dossier” reached him on 10 September 2002. But Alistair had chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee meeting on 9 September. When the `sexing up` accusation floated to the surface, Alistair launched the usual diversionary attack on the BBC. Unfortunately that motivated the only man of conscience in the affair, Dr. Kelly, to confess. As a reward for that he was hung out to dry by the Defence Department, threatened with the loss of his pension, publicly exposed, then trundled before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee to eat his own words: a diet he choked on. Who could have predicted that an honourable man couldn`t live with his spins? Bad luck for all concerned. Particularly Dr. Kelly.
Alistair will go. Possibly Geoff Hoon. At this stage of the PM`s career he`ll need a futile gesture.
Not good. Alistair can`t be replaced by Mandy mincing back or relying on Cherie, who`s scatty-boo and hoogly too, or Charley “Chap” Falconer who`s got as much political nous as I.D.S. Alistair is Tony`s alter ego, super-id and political brain. He made the monster, made him coherent, put the words in his mouth, did his knee to the groin stuff for him and told him what to do. All vital services for a PM who isn`t Labour.
They`ll say this will be the end of spin. Balls. It never ends and Tony isn`t grown up enough to be allowed out on his own. Your party needs you, Alistair, more than it needs Tony. Besides, what other job is worth doing? |
