Why Sack Jack?
Maybe it's not the right analogy, but in the recent cabinet reshuffle Tony Blair has thrown the baby out with the bathwater. He has given Britain's international role a backseat and decided to concentrate instead on his own political survival.
Sacking the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, was not a good move. Straw was Home Secretary from 1997-2001 and headed the Foreign and Commonwealth office after that for five years. For all his faults, he was well known in international circles and had proved himself to be an effective diplomat in the trying circumstances of the post 9/11 world.
Britain is probably the only country that can restrain the US. None of the other UN Security Council members enjoy this 'special relationship'; indeed, France, Russia and China actively oppose the US on many issues.
They are not able to stop America hitting Iran. They will just veto it in the UN, stand back and watch the fireworks.
So why, of all times, sack Straw now, on the eve of crisis talks on Iran? His replacement Margaret Beckett is also an experienced politician but no-one is going to be able to just turn up for dinner at New York and make themselves heard. What the hell will she know about tackling Iran?
Blair has not done anyone any favours with this short-term barracking of political allies. He showed such promise in 1997, but like all politicians he has grown weak and arrogant. By reshuffling the cabinet to surround himself only with friends at this crucial moment, he shows that he no longer has Britain or the world's best interests at heart.
