Blair 'dishonest, shallow and cheap' in justifying Bush visit, says Cook [View All]

[joeunderdog]

Robin Cook has accused Tony Blair of making dishonest, shallow and cheap arguments to justify next week's controversial state visit to Britain by President George Bush.

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Mr Cook attacks Mr Blair for attributing the huge protests planned next week to "resurgent anti-Americanism". He says this is "a dishonest, shallow, cheap argument, not worthy of such a consummate communicator ... It is entirely possible to want warm relations with the American people while keeping a prudent distance from the foreign adventures of President Bush."

Mr Cook, who resigned from the Cabinet before the Iraq war, says: "The state visit is the latest episode in a relationship with the Bush administration that has remained so one-sided that it has become an affront to our national dignity."

He urges the Prime Minister to revive Britain's self-respect by standing up to President Bush's foreign policy, notably by internationalising the political process in Iraq through the United Nations. If Downing Street's relationship with the Bush White House is to survive, he says, it must evolve into a "two-way street".

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Last night President Bush said he and his wife, Laura, were looking forward to staying with the Queen at the palace.

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He added: "I can understand people not liking war, if that's what they're there to protest. I don't like war. War is the last choice a president should make, not the first. And it was the last choice, after endless years of diplomacy took place."President Bush also confirmed that he would visit Mr Blair's Sedgefield constituency, and warned: "My Geordie is probably just about as bad as my English."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=463560