BRITAIN: British government fears about American tactics in Iraq were laid bare yesterday as Conservative leader Mr Michael Howard warned that the proposed handover of power to an interim Iraqi government must not be "cosmetic".
A leaked Foreign Office memorandum to ministers acknowledged that the scandal of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison had "sapped the moral authority of the coalition, inside Iraq and internationally" - while Mr Howard told coalition leaders bluntly that future talk of "Western values" would now provoke "hollow laughter" in the Arab world.
Mr Howard's fresh intervention, and his own first explicit criticism of the United States, came as Commons leader Mr Peter Hain admitted Labour voters were likely to stay away from the polls on June 10th because of continuing anger about the conflict in Iraq.
Two of Britain's most respected polling analysts yesterday put Labour's current support at levels not seen since the party was led by Mr Michael Foot in the early 1980s. According to Colin Railings and Michael Thrasher of Plymouth University - who base their predictions on actual election results - Labour is battling with the Liberal Democrats for second place, a full 11 points behind the Conservatives.
And as leading figures in Britain's "big four" unions talked up the "crisis of confidence" in Mr Tony Blair's leadership, his candidate for London mayor, Mr Ken Livingstone, said President Bush should be "consigned to the dustbin of history" and then prosecuted for war crimes.
Opinion polls suggest Mr Livingstone's strong lead in the capital has been halved following his decision to rejoin the Labour party earlier this year. His comments at a Trafalgar Square rally on Saturday will be seen as evidence of alarm that hostility to Labour over Iraq is damaging his re-election prospects. Downing Street, meanwhile, said the proposal to give British and American troops immunity from prosecution in Iraq was only one detail in the comprehensive plan now being developed for the transfer of "sovereignty" to an interim Iraqi government on June 30th.
However, with Mr Blair expected to travel to Washington for crucial face-to-face talks with President Bush ahead of the handover, the issue of sovereignty is taking centre-stage in an internal British debate sharpened by Mr Howard's decision to distance himself from the coalition's handling of the post-conflict situation in Iraq.
Mr Howard's decision has split the Conservative right but he dismissed criticism from his predecessor, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, yesterday as he warned London and Washington against transferring sovereignty with "only limited authority" to an interim Iraqi government.
Speaking on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, Mr Howard denied reports he had been "deluged" with letters from US Republicans criticising him for failing to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Mr Blair. But, in a clearly unapologetic mood, he said if some people in Washington did think like that, "they misunderstand the nature of our parliamentary democracy".
Referring to the shocking images, photographs and videos documenting the abuse of prisoners in American custody, Mr Howard said: "We talk about Western values. We talk about the need to spread Western values. I have talked about it myself. We have to face up to the fact that that phrase 'Western values' is now going to invoke hollow laughter in the Arab world and in many other parts of the world because of what has happened."
He challenged those in Washington who had suggested the transfer of sovereignty should come with "limited authority", warning: "I think that would be a mistake."
That warning came after the Sunday Times published the leaked Foreign Office memo revealing for the first time the depth of British government unease about US "heavy-handed" behaviour and tactics in Iraq.
Circulated just last week the document advised ministers on their "public lines to take" while telling them: "We should not underestimate the present difficulties Heavy-handed US military tactics in Falluja and Najaf some weeks ago have fuelled both Sunni and Shi'ite opposition to the coalition, inside Iraq and internationally."