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- The Guardian,
- Monday February 26 2001
Now, it looks as though the leader of the opposition's blatant opportunism is about to be exposed again. When Peter Mandelson resigned from the government, Hague attacked the prime minister for allowing him back so quickly after his first resignation at the time of the Geoffrey Robinson home loan scandal. Then, when Mandelson claimed that he had evidence which proved him innocent, the allegation shifted to a diametrically opposed complaint. Poor Peter had been dismissed in a fit of panic without being given a proper chance to defend himself. If, as last weekend's leaks suggest, the Hammond inquiry vindicates Tony Blair's decision, it seems unlikely that Hague will apologise for his errors of judgment.
From his own narrow political point of view, it would be far better if he did. The voters are not as stupid as Mr Hague supposes. They recognise his infinite capacity for reacting to issues of great principle with a miscalculation of where the Conservative party's best interests lie.
Over the past couple of days that fatal flaw has been reflected in the whispers that Tony Blair has become George Bush's poodle. I recognise the frustration that the Tory leadership feels after witnessing the clear rapport which has been established between the two men. It must be particularly galling for Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory defence spokesman, who has been busily telling rightwing Republicans that the Labour government will undermine the Atlantic alliance. But the opposition's attempt to have it both ways can only hold it up to ridicule. Every sensible person who reads that the prime minister rolled over for the president will be able to imagine what the Conservatives would have said if the Camp David meeting had ended in a dogfight.
In an attempt to retrieve lost ground, Duncan Smith has claimed that Tony Blair "misled George Bush during the discussions of the European Rapid Reaction Force". Unlike the Tory defence spokesman, I have always realised that the president of the United States is not very bright. But I took it for granted that clever men and women from the Pentagon and the state department would brief him about what the European Union's proposals meant and involved. If they did, and the prime minister fooled them all, I can only say that it makes me proud to be British. A more likely explanation is that the Tory leadership, having made a collective ass of itself, thought that inventing the deception story was the best way to get out of the hole. So it dug deeper.
The relationship between the prime minister and president was, in part, cemented by Tony Blair's acceptance (at least in principle) of America's nuclear defence system. Hague and Duncan Smith would have done the same. I regard the "hardening" of Fylingdales, and all that goes with it, as a waste of money which, by prejudicing the non-proliferation treaty, may make the world a more dangerous place. But I cannot resist being reasonable about how the prime minister behaved in America. Whether or not he shares my judgment or President Bush's prejudice, he had no choice but to agree to help at the birth of son of star wars. To refuse would have been to announce that Britain was no longer an ally of the United States. That would have brought Nato crashing down about the EU's head. The Rapid Reaction Force might have become the only defence on which Europe could rely.
By his actions, Tony Blair preserved the real possibility of Britain assuming the historic role which Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy thought, 40 years ago, was our rightful destiny. The twin pillars of western democracy should be held together by the keystone of British diplomacy. There is a long way to go before that happy arrangement can be achieved. Britain cannot play anything like a leadership role in Europe while we remain outside the single European currency. But it is clearly a status which only a Labour government can promote. A Tory government, sulking on the fringes of the EU, could only make Britain an offshore island. It is a small ambition promoted by small-minded men and women, whose cynicism will only increase the size of their defeat.
