Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon says Blair ordered him to destroy briefing note from top lawyer
Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has thrown new fuel onto the fire of outrage at Tony Blair’s knighthood – by accusing the former PM of ordering him to burn a secret 2003 legal memo saying the Iraq war could be illegal. The accusations bite all the deeper because Hoon was formerly a close Blair ally.
The allegation first surfaced in 2015 and was dismissed by Blair as ‘nonsense’, but Hoon has told the Daily Mail that the allegations are true – and that he and his senior Ministry of Defence civil servant were ‘deeply alarmed’ at the order and instead locked the document in a safe.
The Chilcot Report on the decision to go to war raised questions about the manner in which the then-Attorney General firmed up his legal advice saying there was a legal basis for the war – after the circulation of the memo Hoon says he was ordered to destroy.
Professor and human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, who first revealed the existence of the memo in a 2005 book, told the Mail:
When Lord Goldsmith wrote the legal advice warning that war in Iraq could be illegal, he can hardly have expected that those who received a copy would be told to ‘burn after reading’.
Yet Mr Hoon says that this is what he was told, offering further confirmation of what has long been known – ministers, parliament and the public were misled by Mr Blair into supporting a war that was seen by many as unlawful and a crime. In modern Britain, it seems, such a manifest act of wrongdoing does not preclude the offering of a high-level gong.
The Downing Street civil servant who allegedly passed on the order has denied telling Hoon’s secretary to burn the memo, saying that it was an earlier document and that he simply said to destroy it, not burn it. Hoon’s allies have insisted that he is wrong.
Skwawkbox view:
The illegal Iraq war led to up to a million deaths, many of them civilians, with millions more lives blighted and ruined. The knowing co-architect of that disaster should be forced to defend himself in The Hague, not slapped on the back and knighted by the monarch in the UK’s corrupt honours system.
However, unsurprisingly if politically foolishly Keir Starmer claimed on Tuesday that Blair deserves the honour.
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Geoff Hoon was a chum of the Blair creature. Hoon says the creatures ex flatmate Goldsmith’s legal advice was; Blair’s murderous Iraq invasion was illegal. Hoon wrote; he was told to “BURN” the written evidence. Hoon also confirms the Blair creature in 2002, promised Bush he will use British troop to Invade Iraq. Colin Powell confirmed to Bush Jr that Blair was in the bag.
There’s much more, but in brief, Geoff Hoon confirmed what can be understood from the EVIDENCE at the Butler, Chillcott… inquiries. The Blair creature & allies are murderous warmongering disgraceful liars with ZERO RESPECT for The Many.
No wonder Sir Keith Starmer supports fully the warmongering tool.
Vote for dishonest Starmer and any of his coup gang if you want the world to go from bad to worse.
🟥🔺🟥🔺🟥🔺
Been thinking alot about this vile act by Queen woman since early hrs of NYD.
1 – may be Queen woman’s attempt to distract us from her favourite son’s alleged criminal activities with pedophiles Epstein & Maxwell and their international child sex trafficking. Cross continental abuse by “the great & the good” one percent.
2- Maybe, knowing the Blair creature will do anything to worm its way into more Establishment entrails ie the biggest parasites, Queen woman may be hoping the sordid creature will intervene on Airmiles Andy’s behalf somehow.
3- Huge distraction from Diana’s husband’s horse Camilla ALSO getting Queen woman’s highest trinket so she could appear less as a marriage wrecker of a 19 year old idealistic young lady.
ps Queen woman herself made reference / barb / spiteful barb to Mrs Parker-Bowles being a horse, when she said approx Mrs P-B was home and dry in the winner’s enclosure.
4- i suspect Diana’s husband MAY have pressured his mummy to try to polish Mrs P-B.
5- Queen woman could have gifted the warmonger her bauble at anytime, so this timing is HIGHLY suspiciously rancid.
🔱🪡💰🔱🪡💰🔱🪡💰
The public, WE pay the price of this rotten rancid Establishment. Sir Keith Starmer “respects” it.
signpost
This post is one of your finest
Poetic
Grown-up politics in action : certainly unethical, possibly criminal conduct carried out on the basis of someone’s idea of the greater good.
This is interesting, because the official secrets case against GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun was dropped precisely because Blair’s govt didn’t want to reveal Goldsmith’s initial advice in court. The order to literally ‘burn it’ adds greater clarity to the mess Blair’s govt was in.
How many more official records and documents are being shredded merely to protect senior officials? Who do they serve, themselves, or the public who entrusted them?
Blair isn’t the only one accused of this type of outrageous record destruction. There are more recent examples and rumours spanning the FCO, MoD and other govt agencies and depts.
They’re actually destroying what are rightly the public’s historical records. They are, to all intents and purposes creating a false historical narrative for future generations, it should be seen as what it is : treasonous behaviour.
One of the reasons senior officials didn’t want Corbyn in, was undoubtedly the risk of him or his appointees digging around into these things.
Starmer thinks Blair deserves his knighthood but already more than 600,000 UK citizens sign petitions to say he doesn’t. Would you buy an untested, emergemcy-authorised covid jab or a WEF-endorsed New World Oder from this man?
Credit to Geoff Hoon for spilling the beans on the vile illegal warmonger Blair.
Theyre all falling out over whos got the biggist gong “.I have realised for a while now that the knight is looking for friend’s in a hung parliament.Labour cosying up with the flat earth society DUP may give him a working majority but the right wing of the Labour party are not interested in bible thumpers or religious fanaticism of a Jewish convert..The knight may just find out that interference in a united Ireland may cost him and the Labour party more than just friend’s across the Atlantic but total isolation of a rogue Labour government.willing to challenge international law.Things are moving at a pace in Ireland and he might just see his reliance on the DUP dissapear along with the seats of the extremist DUP when Sinn Fein move into government with a centuries long agenda for a united Republic of Ireland.The knight may think that the promised land is in sight but like mosses he may never see the light of the Promised land” with this destructive agenda. “We are not a republican party or a socialist party but a loyalist party” will be his destruction.
qwertboi
I think he’s selling his book
Back in the day, Geof was known by Labour insideres as “Buff”, because of the many errors he made.
Selling a book you say?
Nemtona
Geoff Hoons recently published memoir ‘See how they run’
Confirms the deal with Bush was signed in blood a year before the invasion
Now one of my long running bugbears is the Blairs had less money than the current PM but managed to raise a £4 million mortgage on the back of the expected sales of his imemoir in America
Fast forward to the deal signed in blood, a refusal would have bankrupted the Blairs
A clear conflict of interest
Geof Hoon’s accusation goes some way to prove what many suspected Blair was dishonest about the Iraq war.
Is it wishful thinking on my part, seeing as David Lammy appears to be in a regretful mood. Will we hear an apology from him for supporting the very same war. Probably not.
Worth politely asking him perhaps? Give him the opportunity (to ignore you).
I’ve just watched Lammy on RT. He was offering the Tories full support for any hostile actions against Russia re Ukraine etc. Has he learnt nothing? This bunch are actively endorsing idiotic statements which if continued to their conclusion are war cries. China and Russia are as close as possible to being official allies. West Point has released articles saying plainly that a united enemy on several fronts are unbeatable. Many generals have spoken of NATO with barely hidden contempt. We are an expensive burden and the odds of our historic partners, Ukraine, joining NATO are at best negligible.
Lives blighted = life knighted.
What a travesty, your fucking majesty.
To destroy or to burn? Does it really matter what the order was? The result is exactly the same: to hide Lord Goldsmith’s advice that the war was illegal.
I agree with signpost, that the Queen is trying to both distract from Andy randy problems while at the same time probably attempting to buy influence in high places in the US through Blair.
Wednesday 5th Jan is the 1,000th day Assange has spent imprisoned in Belmarsh. Julian Assange is a “freedom fighter for Truth (the first casualty of war) and freedom of speech”. His selfless, altruistic act was necessitated by Blair and Bush’s illegal war.
Starmer is their jailor.
Labour party members should leave Labour until it hangs its head in shame over Keir Rodney Starmer and the danger that 52.6 % of its members and supporters (who voted for said reprobate as leader) inadvertently subjected the British electorate to.
Imagine if this WEF-supporting psychopath ever became PM.
Qwertboi, he will be in complete agreement with the opposition.
I am so tired of this childish nonsense of titles honours and Royalty.ITs a toss up now between lawyers judges and politicians of who gets the award for “bottom feeders” and how we came to this archaic ridiculous sytem of patronage.and how they manage to convince this appalling system is healthy for only the wealthy.We know mrs peasantry or mr serfdom are Occasionally so called honoured but we all know that such a system of establishment and Titles should be in the history books not argued over by adults in a ladder climbing competition…..Are them freeloaders back at work yet?
p.s SIR KEITH starmer CHOKED trying to say “RESPECT” ➡️ caught Covid AGAIN. Sir Keith Max Headroom World Covid Catching champion – Special talent of catching Covid b4 PMQs.
Keith dropped FIVE points in polls since exposing himself recently. The more the public hear or see Keith, the more they distrust & dislike the deceitful mound. So he catches Covid AGAIN b4 PMQs, someone else steps in ➡️ sinking polls pause.
Keith then exposes himself, eg with cringe toe-curling limp lettuce peculiar respect choking speech, sounds weird, looks weird, acts weirdly ➡️ public distrusts him even more.
good❗️Good‼️ GOOD❗️‼️
Since exposing himself did anyone notice how seriously he took his conversion?
At the current rate, nearly 700,000 people have signed the petition to rescind the KG awarded to Tony Blair.
If this is an indication of feeling in the country, what does it suggest about New New Labour’s electoral strategy and their dewy-eyed invocations of the Blair years?
It will be interesting to see if this plays out……
It probably will ‘play out’ Ludus57 Starmer is a W E F man after all.
And as a wrong type of Jew once said “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”
On the 1,000th day of Julian Assange’s incarceration perhaps it is Mr Blair (and Bush) who should be in the dock in The Hague and banged up!
The entire system; the Judiciary, the Executive & the Legislature are manifestly morally bankrupt & corrupt, but there is no 4th Estate to call it to account.
‘A gong for killing a million in Iraq?
In the name of Chivalry?
The elite barbarians at the top exposed?
As the Real Little People for all to see?’
Bazza
Military Industrial Complex are good payers and they really d9nt give a fuck
“However, unsurprisingly if politically foolishly Keir Starmer claimed on Tuesday that Blair deserves the honour.”
Blue Keith’s CPS Office made man, many documents vanish when thing got heated! I wouldn’t be surprised if he had involvement! Washing the Devils’ Back for a kick up the ladder! I always wonder how these clowns are allowed to keep making these extraordinarily illegal Crimes time and time again an no consequence! Even with the X-Lateral Commission if a Law is broken, a law is broken. Yet they get nothing the evil forces are at work the higher powers, whatever those are!
So comforting, knowing the people who’ll order the burning of govt documents to protect themselves and hide the truth from the public, wish now to police the official narrative & ‘truth online; protecting us from conspiracy theories and other misinformation and disinformation.
It should be illegal to destroy any records produced carrying out official govt business imho, they are merely temporary custodians, they don’t own the govt business. And even using a business & CEO analogy, destroying accounts and other records would likely result in a court action and possible penalties. They’ve already got the silly 30-year rule. There’s an argument cabinet discussion minutes should be publicly released every two-weeks – I believe its done in Scandinavia(?) – then we can see if ministers are performing due diligence in cabinet discussions,or merely nodding stuff through. It would make for better governance. Many will remember Clare Short claiming she and Robin Cook were the only ones raising concerns about Iraq in Blair’s lackey cabinet.
Why is the culture of secrecy for elites operating in our name so ingrained in the UK? As if the UK public conditioned to accept it as normal. If they think something is too damaging to release, surely that serve as a flashing warning light as to whether it’s the right thing to do?
According to Wikipedia Goldsmith was also a key figure in the Al-Yamamah disgrace, when Blair as UK PM threw a protective shield around a major corruption scandal in the international arms trade.
“In 2007, Goldsmith was accused of attempting to cover up the BAE-Saudi corruption case by ordering the Serious Fraud Office to call off its ongoing investigation into the matter, arguing that it might “compromise national security.”
He later admitted that the MI6 had never possessed intelligence that Saudi Arabia planned to cut security links with Britain.”
Blair said: “Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is vitally important for our country in terms of counter-terrorism, in terms of the broader Middle East, in terms of helping in respect of Israel and Palestine. That strategic interest comes first.” (Wiki)
Goldsmith’s resignation as Attorney General took effect on the day that Blair stepped down as PM. He was appointed head of European Litigation at the London office of US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton. He was the first retiring AG ever to join a law firm. Salary £1m per annum in 2007.
Doug,
Blairs involvement in the international arms trade was the subject of a recent Al Jazeera documentary. Claire Short pulled no punches, calling him an arms dealer.
If I was Tony Blair I’d crawl under a stone and stay there. Instead the man will be literally lording it over us thereby confirming what most people already knew – he has neither morals nor conscience. The same goes for anyone who supports him, his war mongering and his lies.
That picture of Bliar at the top right…
He looks like a goblin from Harry Potter
No I don’t think that ER (or rather her political advisors)
used the knighting of Blair to hide her sons disgrace. That
is something she can do nothing about – for its resolution
is a US thing and what is more will be featured by the MSM
whatever else is happening. It even pushed GE19 off the
front pages!
The greater likelihood is that they used the current political
maelstrom (including Andrew) to sneak in the knighting of Blair.
And the majority of officials in the party and PLP are guess what, Blairites. The party is corrupt
Institutionally fucked
I was one of, the last time I looked, 700000 who signed the petition against Tony f*****g Blair’s knighting. Not that losing his gong is enough, at least it’s something.
They’ll be dancing in the public latrines of Victoria tonight.
700,000 and growing plus a great victory in Bristol!
Unions & Breakthrough plus Resist need to talk to explore forming a new left wing Democratic Socialist Party.
And why should Right Wing Labour have a monopoly of union funding for meagre returns?
Why not fund two and let us us Socialists compete against the Right Wing Labour Neo-Liberals.
We would fight to scrap the Tory Trade Union Laws, we would fight for public ownership, we would call for an immediate Winter Fuel Payment of £1,000 for all, we would kick the private sector out of the NHS, we would end pay freezes, we would ban fire & rehire, we would have a 10% tax on the rich and a financial transaction tax, we would abolish HE tuition fees & bring back grants for working class FE kids, and build millions of social homes, we would scrap UC and have A Living Social Security, we would have a £15 ph Living Wage etc etc and let Right Wing Labour try to match and better us.
Right Wing Labour is taking union members money for a ride? Union members need value for money!
Time to fight back! Solidarity!