The Guardian op-ed: No more evasion and prevarication – Britain's elite must be held to account

[JohnyCanuck]

The blocking of the Chilcot report underlines how the powerful shield their activities from the public

It is the greatest scandal of British public life in a generation, yet Blair and his allies, such as Jack Straw and Alastair Campbell, have never been properly held to account. More than a decade after we went to war, Sir John Chilcot's report is stalled because Sir Jeremy Heywood, the current cabinet secretary, who was at Blair's side as principle private secretary during the run-up to the invasion, is blocking crucial evidence to the inquiry.

It is an unbelievable state of affairs. As the former foreign secretary Lord Owen pointed out last week, you couldn't have a more dubious arrangement. A man who was integral to the government that took us to war is now sitting on evidence of 200 relevant cabinet level discussions, 25 notes written by Blair to George Bush and records of 130 phone conversations between Blair, Bush and Gordon Brown. Heywood claims that he's bound by the decision taken by his predecessor, Lord O'Donnell, to protect the confidentiality of Blair and Bush's discussions. In effect, Heywood is claiming that he has no discretion and therefore his past as senior official in Blair's Number 10 at the time has no relevance.

What is so dismal about this situation, quite apart from the naked self-interest that it represents, is that it underlines that while the British public is expected to put up with ever-increasing levels of intrusion by surveillance, in the name of transparency and security, those in power create for themselves an impregnable bunker where honour, accountability and public opinion count for nothing. They conceal their actions and shield themselves from entirely legitimate requests from an inquiry set up by the prime minister himself.

snip

Not only should Heywood be removed from anything to do with the decision of what Chilcot is allowed to see, but, as Lord Owen suggested on Newsnight, the conventions surrounding a prime minister's dealings with a US president no longer apply: this is about the possibility that Tony Blair knowingly deceived parliament and dissembled to the nation in order to do George Bush's bidding and preserve the special relationship. Allegations don't come more serious than that. We should know what he said to Bush.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/17/chilcot-inquiry-tony-blair-bush

One of the responses posted to this op-ed

The widespread corruption of the governance process, our elites contempt for democracy and the electorate has been over 40 years in the making. Under New Labour it took a whole new turn with repression and surveillance of the accepted underclass (a disgusting term that originates with a man who wished to see the poor die) to the fore as they encouraged yet more demand for housing whilst refusing to build a house.

The whole system has been corrupted by finance and the demands of finance. These contingent demands have not been necessary but because our whole system is so interlocked with finance and rentierism the whole process has become one where the State has been captured for the interests of the few.

We are nearing a King Charles moment. Our civic and liberal duty is to resist these constant wars on our poorest and most vulnerable as these men play wars and spend trillions on ensuring their friends in finance are kept afloat. The contempt they hold for the population is explicit in the reference to us as stock. Stock is what they called slaves. This is distinct from free labour.


http://discussion.theguardian.com/comment-permalink/28960044

[wiggs]

1. And Bush's chief of staff was in charge of the 9/11 Commission, IIRC. nt