BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair's former cabinet secretary, Lord Butler, has launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister's style of government, accusing him of being too concerned with "central control and headlines". And he suggests the British public was not told how "thin" intelligence was about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction because it would have weakened the case for war.
Lord Butler, who had previously raised concerns about Mr Blair's "government by sofa" way of decision-making, said it was not a secret that the cabinet "doesn't make decisions" and that Britain suffered "from parliament not having sufficient control over the executive".
In an interview with the Spectator, the former cabinet secretary to three prime ministers was asked if he thought the country on the whole was well governed. He replies: "I think we suffer very badly from parliament not having sufficient control over the executive, and that is a very grave flaw. We should be breaking away from the party whip. The executive is much too free to bring in a huge number of extremely bad Bills, a huge amount of regulation and to do whatever it likes - and whatever it likes is what will get the best headlines tomorrow."
Conservative leader Mr Michael Howard described Lord Butler's remarks as "the most damaging testimony I can remember from someone in such an eminent position." And he said his comments proved this was "a government obsessed with spin and headlines." However, Downing Street said Mr Blair should be judged by results, not style, and insisted the cabinet was still used to achieve consensus on important issues.
In his first full interview since his report earlier this year on Iraq intelligence, Lord Butler said the government was wrong to present its weapons dossier to the public and parliament as an accurate reflection of what the Joint Intelligence Committee was saying. "When civil servants give material to ministers, they say these are the conclusions we've drawn but we've got to tell you the evidence is pretty thin," said Lord Butler. "Similarly if you are giving something to the United Nations and the country, you should warn them."