Memos from Hillary Clinton’s email have shed new light on the relationship between Tony Blair and George Bush in the run-up to the Iraq War and piled pressure on Sir John Chilcot finally to publish his report on the conflict.
Another round of the presidential hopeful’s emails by the US State Department on Friday included correspondence between the US Embassy in London and Colin Powell, then-secretary of state, and between Mr Powell and President George W Bush.
They stemmed from the run-up to Mr Blair’s visit to the US for the Crawford summit in 2002, a year before the Iraq war, when Mr Blair was accused of signing “in blood” the UK’s support for a US invasion of Iraq.
The prime minister always denied that any deal had been done, and did so again before the Chilcot inquiry when he gave evidence in January 2010, but the documents at least show that the US was expecting UK support should the invasion take place.
One email, showing a message from Mr Powell to George Bush, is still redacted in places due to classified information, but revealed how he thought that Mr Blair would back military intervention in Iraq for two reasons – that the “threat is real” and that “success against Saddam will yield more regional success”.
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Another memo stated that “the Labour Party and the British public are unconvinced that military action is warranted now. Blair may suggest ideas on how to (1) make a credible public case on current Iraqi threats to international peace; (2) keep Iraq’s neighbours on our side; (3) handle calls for a [UN Security Council] blessing that can increase support for us in the region and with UK and European audiences; and (4) demonstrate that we thought through “the day after”.”
At the time the memos were sent, Mr Blair’s public position was that he would seek diplomatic means to solve conflict with Iraq and was not planning a military response.
A spokesman for Mr Blair insisted last night that the information in the memo was “consistent with what he was saying publicly at the time”.
Several pages of notes also include briefings to Mr Powell from the US Embassy, about the political situation in the UK and that polls showed the people were largely against an invasion of Iraq.
Alex Salmond, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman and former first minister, told The Guardian that the “net was now closing” around Mr Blair.
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He said: “The memo contradicts claims from Mr Blair that all that time he had been seeking diplomatic ways to avoid an invasion. It also adds weight to the evidence given by Sir Christopher Meyer, the former UK ambassador to the United States – to the Chilcot inquiry – that the military timetable and preparation for invasion took precedence over any diplomacy and specifically over the timetable for the weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix.
“The Chilcot inquiry has still to be published and these revelations will need to be looked at very seriously.
“The inquiry was demanded because people wanted answers, yet still six years and £10m later we have nothing – and the evidence against Blair is piling up.”
Other memos to Mr Powell drew attention to a piece by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, run in The Times, highlighting Iraq’s weapon of mass destruction threat, and another piece by Mr Blair in the Daily Mail the following day.
“Debate on these issues in the House of Commons that week was sharp, with Foreign Office junior minister Benjamin Bradshaw branding extreme-left Labor [sic] MP George Galloway as an apologist and paid mouthpiece for Iraq, and Galloway retorting that Bradshaw is a liar,“ the briefing stated. “Opposition to military action against Saddam Hussein goes, unfortunately, well beyond the ‘usual suspects’ such as Galloway.”
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In a section entitled “Constraints on Blair”, the US embassy author states that “many Labor (and Lib Dem) MPs have insisted that the prime minister consult parliament (and some have demanded a vote) before offering support to the US on Iraq. Blair is not compelled to do so; neither Margaret Thatcher nor John Major asked Parliament to vote before taking military action in the Falklands and in Operation Desert Storm.
“Still, Blair would pay a political price for ignoring backbenchers completely or failing to consult his cabinet.”
Sir John has announced that the “maxwellisation” process, where people who are criticised are given a chance to respond to his report, was over but has not yet given a date for publication. The former civil servant began his inquiry in 2009 and was originally expected to report back before the 2010 general election.