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Ex-minister calls on Blair to quit
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Former British Cabinet member Clare Short called on Tony Blair to prepare to "hand over" to a new leader -- a day after she quit her post over the prime minister's Iraq policy. Short, the former International Development Secretary, said the governing Labour Party should organize an "elegant succession" -- apparently from Blair to Chancellor Gordon Brown. In a joint interview with the Guardian and Financial Times newspapers, published Tuesday, Short said it would be "very sad" if Blair "hung on and spoiled his reputation." "The job is, without falling out into horrendous splits, to try and ensure we keep up the quality of the government and, indeed, organize an elegant succession," Short said in an apparent reference to Brown. "I think Tony Blair has enormous achievements under his belt and it would be very sad if he hung on and spoiled his reputation. "I think an elegant handover would be a good idea." Short, who backtracked on her original threat to quit in the run up to the Iraq war, ended weeks of speculation Monday when she stepped down. In a strongly worded statement to the House of Commons, Short -- who had called Blair's Iraq policy "reckless" -- accused the government of helping the U.S. to "bully" the United Nations. Short criticized Blair for creating a "presidential system" of government that has seen "the centralization of power into the hands of the prime minister and an increasingly small number of advisers." She accused Blair of breaching assurances he had given her on the role of the United Nations in governing post-war Iraq. In a letter to Blair Monday, Short accused him and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of "secretly" negotiating a U.N. Security Council resolution that contradicted assurances she had given in the Commons. "I'm ashamed that the UK government ... supported the United States in trying to bully the U.N.," she told the Commons. Blair's office denied the allegations. His spokesman said there was no knowledge of any assurance to Short that had not been kept. A statement said: "Ms Short had accepted at the time that military action was both legal and indeed necessary." Baroness Amos, currently minister for Africa, replaces Short. Born Valerie Amos in Guyana, she becomes Britain's second black Cabinet minister. Paul Boateng, appointed chief secretary to the Treasury last year, was the first.
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