Gordon Brown’s testimony will be all to familiar to any journalist who has had the privilege to interview him. Rather than open up, Brown has a habit of deciding what he wants to say and repeating it over and over and over again. Nothing diverts him.
In case you’ve missed today’s message, Brown desperately wanted a diplomatic solution to Iraq. Only after the French blocked this at the very last moment did war become necessary. International law needs to be upheld and so the Iraq war was justified.
Sir Rod Lyne asked the obvious question of what Tony Blair told him through the months of diplomacy ahead of war. Did he tell Brown what assurances he was giving the White House? Did he disclose what he promised with regard to military action in letters to President George Bush?
Brown dodged every question. Sir Rod kept on plugging away, asking for a “yes or no” answer. Brown just talked about the importance of diplomacy. Nothing would bring down the Brown defence. In the end he just said: “we talked about these issues. I don’t have copies of his letters and I don’t recall the exact comments and you would not expect me to.” Well that’s clear then.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey