Jack Straw took the opportunity of his retirement from Labour’s front bench to publicise his forthcoming memoirs...
Roger Smith bids farewell to an old hand & welcomes some new blood over the pond
Jack Straw took the opportunity of his retirement from Labour’s front bench to publicise his forthcoming memoirs. These, he promised, will not be of the “kiss and tell” variety. Few would have supposed otherwise. He did not serve Labour’s full time in office without considerable skills of discretion and diplomacy.
Immediate press interest centred on Mr Straw’s views on the Iraq war. Though formally supporting the decision to invade Iraq, he told the Chilcot inquiry that he was “haunted” by the decision. At about the same time, a “secret and personal” letter that he had written to Tony Blair materialised in which, just before the start of the second Gulf War, he indicated his doubts about the course on which his prime minister was so clearly determined. Jack Straw has seldom been accused of naivety.
The importance of Jack Straw to the
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