PM Blair warned of ‘civil war’ over plan for euro referendum
May 22 - 28, 2003
TOP DOCTORS would be balloted on industrial action unless the Government returned to the negotiating table over a new national contract, consultants’ leaders agreed during this week of 2003.
The decision was a further blow to Ministers already facing unrest from GPs who wanted their new contract renegotiated.
Consultants in England and Wales voted two-to-one against their new contract the previous October, despite a recommendation from the British Medical Association that it should be accepted.
The deal gave doctors a 20 per cent pay increase in return for reforms to working practices which many specialists feared would give managers too much control, forcing them to work evenings and weekends and restricting private practice.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn refused to renegotiate, and pressed ahead with plans to encourage hospitals to introduce the contract on a local basis.
The Government was plunged into fresh single currency turmoil just as Tony Blair claimed his Cabinet was reaching a pro-euro consensus.
Europe Minister Denis MacShane appeared to raise fears that going for a referendum would spark an “all-out internal civil war” within Labour.
The remark came as the Prime Minister signalled his Cabinet was reaching agreement and that he believed he could eventually persuade a sceptical British public to accept the euro.
The fiercely pro-euro Rotherham MP quickly claimed that he had been referring to Britain as a whole, not the Government.
Meanwhile John Major said the new draft EU constitution posed more danger than premature entry into the euro.
The former Tory Prime Minister threw his weight behind calls for a referendum on the proposed constitution and accused Mr Blair of talking “gibberish” on the issue.
Virgin Airways tycoon Sir Richard Branson set out his plans to keep Concorde flying when he met officials from Airbus, which manufactured the supersonic aircraft.
British Airways planned to ground Concorde in October, saying it was no longer economically viable, but Sir Richard wants to persuade BA and the Government to allow Virgin to take control of the airliner.
The meeting was expected to be the first of many, but Sir Richard said he was encouraged by the talks.
“We put some ideas to Airbus to keep Concorde flying and they have gone away to discuss those. It will be some time before we hear back.”
Sir Richard took a team of his engineers to the meeting, which he said he hoped would help him to gauge the cost of keeping Concorde in the sky Elsewhere, Saddam Hussein was said to be alive and hiding in a Baghdad suburb as his reviled son tried to negotiate surrender, it was reported.
The toppled Iraqi dictator was reported to be in “questionable mental health” as his eldest son, Uday attempted to negotiate terms to give himself up to United States forces, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the time, it was not clear if Saddam was with Uday or considering his own surrender.
Uday was number three on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis.
He was the head of the paramilitary Fedayeen, which provided the stiffest resistance to the coalition invasion which toppled Saddam, and one of the most hated figures in the regime.
He feared being found and killed by the Iraqi people and reportedly believed he would be safer in US hands.
There were fears that going for a referendum would spark an ‘all-out internal civil war’.