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Straw: I would have quit
FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw planned to quit along with Tony Blair if a majority of Labour MPs rejected war in Iraq, he sensationally admitted last night. John Prescott would have become acting PM and British troops pulled out of the Gulf if the Commons vote was lost, he revealed. Mr Straw spoke out just days after the PM confirmed to The Sun he would have resigned. The Foreign Secretary said in a newspaper interview: âI was conscious of the fact that if it went wrong, if we did not get the support we needed in the Commons, Tony would almost certainly go and I would go with him.â Chancellor Gordon Brown would have become overwhelming favourite to take over the leadership and No 10. The PM and his Foreign Secretary were the two men most closely associated with the war to oust Saddam. If Mr Blair had failed to win a majority of Labour MPs â around 200 â he would have quit. He won the day despite 139 of his own ranks voting against war but only after a massive arm-twisting exercise by party managers. Some hardline backbenchers were even warned Mr Blair would quit. There were 45,000 British servicemen and women poised to invade Iraq. Posted by: OMER ISHMAIL 2003-04-27 |
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