Rant left grieving dad seething ‘He sent my lad to his death, now he’s trying to destroy democracy’
THE stepfather of a British soldier killed in Iraq said Tony Blair’s breathtaking Brexit outburst was the “rant of a man who cannot be trusted”.
James Gill was left seething yesterday after the former Prime Minister suggested the votes of 17 million people to leave the EU in last year’s referendum did not provide a mandate for Brexit.
The pensioner’s fury over Mr Blair’s refusal to accept the will of the people comes 12 years after Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer, 26, was blown up in a war waged when the former Labour leader was in power.
Last night Daily Express reader Mr Gill, 67, said: “Mr Blair destroyed our family and now he’s trying to destroy a democratic vote. We are not idiots. This country voted to leave lock, stock and barrel.
Wounds
“The audacity of this man knows no limits. This is someone who has been swanning around earning millions. Blair and his cohorts sent my stepson to his death. He cannot be trusted.”
Not a day passes without Mr Gill, his wife Maureen and her son Jason Shearer, 35, mourning the loss of Richard, an officer with 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment. The family said Mr Blair’s stance was rubbing salt into their wounds.
Lt Shearer had been back in Iraq after leave for just four days when he, Private Leon Spicer, 26, and Private Phillip Hewett, 21, died. Their Land Rover was blown up by a roadside bomb in Amarah on July 16, 2005. Two other soldiers were injured.
Mr Gill, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, one of Britain’s most Eurosceptic areas, said the family had been let down in the wake of Richard’s death and he felt duty-bound to speak out after listening to Mr Blair yesterday. He said: “Information on what happened was withheld for years. We only found out what really happened from other troops on the ground.
“We were sent bits of paper by the authorities but all of the information was blacked out. They would not tell us anything. Before he went Richard said it was an unjust war.
“As a Christian I have chosen to forgive Mr Blair. But we have had a democratic vote so to rally against that is just rank hypocrisy of the highest order. This is a man who doesn’t understand democracy.
“We want to live in a democratic country under the rule of law. How dare this man tell us what to do? This is about our rights as a nation.”
Mr Blair, 63, quit Downing Street in 2007 and has amassed a fortune of £60million. He runs a consultancy business and has set up foundations in his name including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. He owns a large number of properties.
Lt Shearer served in the French Foreign Legion before training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and joining the Staffordshires in 2004.
His comrades described him as a “soldier’s soldier” who led from the front. But he had grave reservations about the British Army’s ability to do the job in Iraq.
He complained to his family that troops were badly equipped and men were exhausted because of lack of sleep.
Insult
His mother Maureen, 67, said of Mr Blair: “How dare he try to reverse the will of the people? We voted to leave but would have accepted the vote whatever the outcome because that’s democracy.
“I feel angry and sick. This is a man who should have been tried for what he did let alone be giving advice to the British people on what he thinks they should do. To be told what to say and think by Tony Blair is the final insult.”
British combat operations in Iraq – codename Operation Telic – started on March 19, 2003 and ended on May 22, 2011. During the campaign 179 British servicemen and women and three civilian staff were killed. Hundreds more were wounded.
The report of the Iraq Inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, was eventually published last July after a lengthy delay.
It found Mr Blair had overstated the threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, had sent poorly prepared troops into battle and had “wholly inadequate” plans for the aftermath of war.