Go Blair go, Britons tell PM

It is not only from political opponents that Blair is facing sniping. Trades unionists 8212; the former backbone of the Labour Party 8212; have gone on the offensive, as have some of Blair8217;s own former Cabinet ministers.

Former International Development Secretary Clare Short, who quit over the issue in May, wrote in the Independent on Sunday newspaper that Blair should stand by his own words over the Kelly affair. 8216;8216;The PM has told us that the claim that he had knowingly exaggerated the threat from Iraqi chemical and biological weapons would be a resignation issue,8217;8217; she wrote. Short accused Blair and his chief aide Alastair Campbell, who quit a week ago, of mounting a coup in the party by imposing their own policies and lying.

This followed an accusation by former Environment Minister Michael Meacher, who left the Cabinet in June, in an article on Saturday that the US had known about 9/11 but done nothing as they were a perfect pretext for embarking on a long-planned war to get access to oil. Reuters