Beckett to break ranks again?

November 5, 2006

It is reported that Margaret Beckett, UK Foreign Secretary, is considering becoming the first UK Government Minister to admit to a link between the invasion of Iraq and the threat of terrorism in UK. This follows a leak last week of Cabinet papers that demand "a significant reduction in the number and intensity of the regional conflicts that fuel terror activity".

Prime Minister Tony Blair has always claimed that the war in Iraq has not fuelled terrorism in UK; that there was terrorism long before the invasion. This despite the posthumous video recording of one of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer who said his actions were provoked by British foreign policy and that attacks would continue until British soldiers were withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Beckett is considering admitting the link between Iraq and terrorism in UK when discussing the problem of Muslim youth becoming influenced by international terrorists. She has already disagreed openly with Prime Minister Blair recently by demanding that there be public debate into the need for the replacement of the Trident missile system and the Royal Navy's Vanguard class submarines, by apologising for the Iraq invasion and by not disagreeing with General Sir Richard Dannatt, who said that British troops in Iraq were provoking trouble.