Blair blames Conservatives for £1m compensation
TONY BLAIR tried to distance himself from the row about the release of British detainees from Guantanamo Bay by blaming the Conservatives for the compensation payments they received.
The former Labour prime minister responded to critics who have questioned whether Jamal al-Harith should have been released from Guantanamo Bay in 2004.
Al-Harith, a Muslim convert, is believed to have been killed after he detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base near Mosul this week.
He was released from the US detention camp in 2004 and successfully claimed £1 million in compensation after saying British agents knew or were complicit in his mistreatment.
Mr Blair said in a statement: “It is correct that Jamal al-Harith was re- leased from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the British Government in 2004.”
Al-Harith was one of 17 British detainees who between them received an estimated £20 million in compensation from the British Government.
Mr Blair pointed out that these sums were announced and paid by the coalition government.
He said: “He was not paid compensation by my government. The compensation was agreed in 2010 by the Conservative government.”
Mr Blair’s claims were criticised by Tory MPs. Andrew Bridgen said: “It would appear that Mr Blair is attempting to rewrite history and his place in it, but it won’t wash.”
But he was supported by Lord Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary, who suggested the security services had stopped monitoring alHarith. Al-Harith’s family released a statement confirming that he had left the UK in 2014 – while Mrs May was at the Home Office. He is thought to have gone to Syria.
Lord Blunkett, who oversaw the original release of the detainees, confirmed the Tory government agreed the payments.
He said: “I am not aware as to the length of time such monitoring continued after I left the Home Office at the end of 2004.”
Whitehall documents disclosed by The Daily Telegraph in 2011 showed that £13.7 million was paid in the year to March 2011, an estimated £12 million of which went to former detainees.
No10 refused to comment on the compensation payments.
The Prime Minister’s deputy official spokesman refused 17 times to say whether they were necessary, if they would be reviewed or whether Mrs May tried to stop them.