Hoon makes dramatic claim about order to ‘burn’ Iraq war memo
DERBYSHIRE-BORN FORMER DEFENCE SECRETARY MAKES ALLEGATION IN HIS MEMOIR
A FORMER Defence Secretary has claimed he was told to burn a secret memo about the war in Iraq – an allegation which has been dismissed by former Prime Minister Tony Blair as “nonsense”.
Derbyshire-born Geoff Hoon, who was Defence Secretary in Tony Blair’s Labour Government between 1999 and 2005, claims he was ordered by Downing Street to burn a secret memo that said the 2003 invasion of Iraq could be illegal.
Mr Hoon, who was in charge of defence when the war started, insisted the allegation was true and now has given a sensational detailed account of a “No 10 coverup”, Mailonline reports.
The allegations are from Mr Hoon’s memoir, See How They Run. The former Prime Minister and newly-knighted Sir Tony said the claim was “nonsense”.
Mr Hoon went on to serve a stint as Transport Secretary and made the controversial allocation of a multi-billion pound train construction contract to Japanese firm Hitachi in 2009. The rival
Former prime minster Tony Blair
consortium included Bombardier, the only company making trains in the UK, which employed more than 2,000 workers at a factory in Derby at the time.
Mr Hoon came under fire for claiming £70,000 for his second home near Derby while living for free in a grace-and-favour apartment in London.
Of his time as Defence Secretary, Mr Hoon says his principal private secretary was told “in no uncertain terms” by Jonathan Powell, Sir Tony’s chief of staff, that after reading the document he must “burn it”,
Mailonline says. Mr Hoon said the Ministry of Defence mandarin was deeply alarmed by the order – and they defied Downing Street by locking the memo in a safe instead.
Mr Powell denied telling Mr Hoon to burn the legal advice.
Mr Hoon also echoed claims that Sir Tony signed a “deal in blood” with former US President George W Bush to back the war a year before it began – and revealed he was given a prime ministerial dressing down for telling the US that if MPS voted against the war, UK troops couldn’t take part.
He accused the No 10 press office of being behind the notorious “45 minutes from doom” reports that exaggerated the threat from Saddam Hussein’s military, and says he was sacked and “hung out to dry” by Sir Tony to escape blame for the war.
It was later revealed that Lord Goldsmith said the war could be illegal. Days before fighting began, he changed his mind and said it was legal.
The allegations come as a petition has been created calling for Sir Tony to be stripped of his recent knighthood in the New Year’s Honours. The number of people who have signed the petition has surpassed 780,000.