Giving evidence before the Iraq Inquiry, Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, said that the former prime minister did not consider cabinet meetings to be a “safe place” where disagreements could be aired in private. In his recent memoirs Mr Blair complained that supporters of Gordon Brown, the then chancellor, frequently briefed the media about confidential government matters. The inquiry has heard that during the run-up to the 2003 invasion, the cabinet rarely discussed Iraq and ministers never received papers which were circulated between members of Mr Blair’s inner circle. Sir Gus criticised the approach, which has been dubbed “sofa government,” saying that cabinet minister's deliberations were undermined by the lack of trust the former prime minister had in them. "That's one of the reasons why the prime minister was reluctant at times to take as many cabinet decisions as possible: he felt that they would become very public very quickly,” he said. “The point of cabinet is that if it works well people will feel able to share their disagreements. “What stops that happening is people’s fear that cabinet can’t be that safe space. “Why would he not go for these meetings? I think because he would have thought it wasn’t a safe space.” Sir Gus told the inquiry panel that one of the repercussions of Mr Blair’s approach to the cabinet was that they were now denied useful paperwork. "The nature of formality was diminished,” he said. “If you reduce the formality you do not have such good records. When you come to do an audit, as you are here, it is not as complete as any cabinet secretary would want it to be." Sir Gus was not asked about his much-criticised decision to reject a request by Sir John Chilcot, the panel chairman, to declassify documents relating to secret letters and discussions between Mr Blair and United States President George W Bush. Sir John has spoken of his “disappointment” at the move, which was made in consultation with Mr Blair. During his evidence session, Sir Gus also warned that the programme of public sector cuts currently under way was likely to lead to job cuts among officials responsible for security. He said: “We are going to end up in this area, as we are in virtually every other area across the civil service, with less staff.”Tony Blair sidelined Cabinet over Iraq because he couldn’t
trust ministers not to leak
Tony Blair sidelined the Cabinet over the decision to invade Iraq because
he feared ministers would leak sensitive material to the press, the head of the
civil service has said.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
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