Margaret Beckett: Poor Memory or Bad Faith...

Let us see if this necessary rebuttal of miserable Margaret Beckett's poor recall of facts - or simple bad faith - takes its proper place in tomorrow's newspapers:


Sir,

The Foreign Secretary, Mrs Margaret Beckett, this morning told the 'Today' programme with regard to the assertion that Saddam Hussein was capable of ordering WMDs to be used within 45 minutes "... it was a statement that was made once and was thought to be of such little relevance, and perhaps people began to quickly think 'I'm not sure about that'. It was never used once in all the debates or questions in the House of Commons."

Permit me to jog her failing memory by quoting, from the Hansard record of Tuesday the 24th of September 2002, the words of the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair in addressing the House of Commons:

"The intelligence picture that they [the security services] paint is one accumulated over the last four years. It is extensive, detailed and authoritative. It concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population, and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability."

Would she care to retract or preferably resign herself to caravaning for a living?


Yours faithfully,


Peter P

The Wolds etc..