Tony Blair fears being exposed in Iraq "show trial"!

So, the scheming still goes on. Tony Blair is conniving behind the scenes to make sure his plots and furtive planning do not come out. As I say, before he meets his Maker the truth will out. He will find that there is a whole phalanx of people, from high to low, demanding that this enquiry is in public as far as it can be.

Why is he so concerned? Because he fears that he would be subjected to a "show trial" if it were opened to the public. Show trial? Does that tell us something? I think it does. Blair has a reputation for mangling the truth and behaving like a three-card trickster. No wonder Gordon Brown had shouting fits with him. But this will be no show trial. It will be a simple case of telling the truth. Blair may be able to gild the lily in private, but a public spectacle of shiftiness will be noted by the people.

It is said in the Guardian that Blair is believed to have been alarmed by the prospect of giving evidence in public and under oath about the use of intelligence and about his numerous private discussions with US President George Bush over plans for war. Again, that only reflects the number of red flags shooting up the pole.

The clamour for a public enquiry has started. Gordon Brown, in his usual gulping way, failed to offer any sincerity in the House of Commons over the need for secrecy. Nick Clegg puts it rather well. "If this is true about Blair demanding secrecy, it is outrageous that an inquiry into the biggest foreign policy disaster since Suez is being muzzled to suit the individual needs of the man who took us to war." If the public mood has anything to do with it, Blair will be giving evidence in public. Then he will have to decide once and for all whether he is a truthful man or an inveterate dissembler.

Posted in: Iraq,public inquiries,Tony Blair