Blair Government in disarray after abject retreats

By COLIN BROWN and ANNE PENKETH

LONDON - The British Government was in confusion and disarray yesterday after ministers were accused of misleading Parliament in their rush to disown knowledge of two damning reports on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Labour backbench MPs are openly questioning the ability of Prime Minister Tony Blair to survive until the next election unless he restores his authority over his Government after a disastrous 24 hours of misleading answers by senior ministers.

In the first of two humiliating retreats by the Government, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was forced to contradict Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon over the role of Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the then senior British representative in Iraq. A day earlier, Hoon had told the Commons that one of the reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross had gone to Greenstock.

Straw told MPs: "My understanding is that Sir Jeremy Greenstock did not receive it."

Straw wrote to Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary, saying the confusion had arisen over a telegram sent after a meeting on February 26 between the Red Cross and the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to discuss the report.

Straw said: "It [the telegram] was signed Greenstock in the usual way. I understand Sir Jeremy Greenstock was not at the meeting." He said Greenstock's legal adviser attended the meeting.

The Defence Secretary's assertion that Greenstock had received the damaging report led to questions about why he had not told Blair about its existence.

The Independent has learned that an official at the Foreign Office contacted the 60-year-old former diplomat at home after he had returned from a seminar and was told he did not receive the document. Greenstock phoned the Foreign Secretary's office after checking his records to confirm he had not seen the ICRC report.

There was further confusion as the Red Cross appeared to challenge the Government's explanation that Greenstock had not read the report. A spokesman for the ICRC said that on February 12, it had handed two copies to the Coalition Provisional Authority.

"In the absence of Paul Bremer, we gave the copy to his deputy," said ICRC spokeswoman Antonella Notari.

The other copy was given to Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US military officer in Iraq.

Amnesty International has accused Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram of "an unfortunate lapse of memory" over his denial last week in the Commons that he had received adverse reports about the behaviour of British troops in Iraq.

Amnesty revealed that last October it had submitted to him a detailed dossier of abuse and alleged killings of civilians by British soldiers, and had received a letter in response from Ingram.

He is expected to use a Commons defence debate this week to apologise for misleading MPs.

Blair was to face renewed criticism overnight in the Commons over his handling of the Iraqi debacle.

The Prime Minister's spokesman insisted officials could not tell Blair about the ICRC report because it was confidential.

That line of defence was looking threadbare and will be challenged by Labour MPs, who were predicting a shock for the Government in the local and European elections on June 10.

"We are going to be stuffed, and Blair is going to be stuffed," said one former Cabinet minister.

There was growing speculation that Blair might stand down after reports circulated at Westminster that he had told some journalists he might go if he felt he was an electoral liability.

Blair's allies in the Cabinet are rallying behind him to fend off attacks.

- INDEPENDENT