Blair In Trouble, British Minister Threatens To Quit Ov

[djxeno]

British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced a mounting crisis over his policy on Iraq Monday, March 10, after a leading cabinet minister threatened to resign if the government followed the United States into a war without UN authorization.

The warning from International Development Secretary Claire Short came only hours after a member of parliament in Blair's Labor Party confirmed he was stepping down as an aide to the government because of its stance on Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

And The Sunday Times newspaper said another nine aides were expected to follow suit if Blair went to war without a UN mandate.

"If there is not UN authority for military action or if there is not UN authority for the reconstruction of the country (Iraq), I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the UN and I will resign from the government," Short told BBC radio late Sunday, March 9.

Reckless

"I'm afraid that I think the whole atmosphere of the current situation is deeply reckless - reckless for the world, reckless for the undermining of the UN in this disorderly world, which is wider than Iraq, (and which) the whole world needs for the future," she said.

The news has left Blair facing the biggest crisis of his six-year Premiership as the divisions within the Labor Party threaten to turn into open warfare and the British public remain skeptical of the merits of disarming Baghdad without a fresh UN mandate.

Andrew Reed, a Labor member of parliament, confirmed earlier Sunday he was quitting as parliamentary private secretary to Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett.In a statement on his website, Reed said: "I will set out my full reasons for resigning (on Monday), but I fully support the prime minister in his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis through the UN route and I do not want to do anything that undermines that effort at this stage."

The prime minister meanwhile put in a series of frantic calls to international leaders to try to drum up support for a fresh UN resolution authorizing war in Iraq.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also gave a clear indication of London's desperation to get a new mandate."By God we want a second resolution," Straw told LWT television.

But he added that the government reserved the right to resort to military action if it meant "actually putting into practice the United Nations' own writ."

Straw's comments came as a new opinion poll conducted by pollsters ICM showed that only 15 percent of Britons would support a war without a fresh UN mandate.

With The Sunday Times reporting that another nine aides were expected to follow Reed's lead if Blair went to war without a fresh mandate, the prime minister was left under no illusion as to the pressing need to secure wider international approval.

However, with veto-wielding UN members France and Russia having already voiced their opposition to any second resolution and fellow Security Council permanent member China warning him the problem would "not be solved by relying exclusively on armed force", Blair appeared to be facing an uphill battle.

As Washington and London vie with the other three veto-wielding members to secure backing from the 10 non-permanent Security Council members, former Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson warned that "upwards of 150" Labor MPs could rebel if a second resolution was not secured.

Blair Determined

However, Blair’s spokesman said here on Monday he is determined to get a UN Security Council vote on a second resolution on Iraq.

"His focus remains resolutely on getting a second resolution," his spokesman said.

Blair met Short briefly on Sunday and again on Monday to discuss her stance, his spokesman said.