[lbo-talk] Blair gave Murdoch 'veto' over EU, says PM's ex-aide

ira glazer ira at yanua.com
Sun Sep 18 13:14:49 PDT 2005


By Andy McSmith, Political Editor Published: 18 September 2005

Tony Blair promised Rupert Murdoch that he would be consulted on any change to Britain's policy towards Europe, according to a diary kept by a former Downing Street press officer.

But the original entry in The Spin Doctor's Diary was toned down on the orders of the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus McDonald. The original entry, published in today's Mail on Sunday, described the atmosphere in No 10 as "very edgy" after pro-euro comments by the then Secretary of State for Trade, Peter Mandelson "because we have promised News International we won't make any changes to our Europe policy without talking to them."

The idea that an Australian-born newspaper magnate should have a veto over Britain's relations with Europe will infuriate Labour supporters. The version that will appear in the diary, to be published by Hodder this month, will read: "apparently, News International are under the impression we won't make any changes without asking them...."

...Another change imposed on Mr Price was that an entry describing Mr Blair as "relishing" ordering air strikes over Iraq in 1998 was toned down to say that he had "mixed emotions" about the first military action he had embarked on as Prime Minister. In public, he claimed to have issued the order with a "heavy heart"....

...Another revelation is that one of Gerhard Schröder's first acts on winning the German general election seven years ago was to reject an invitation to appear at Labour's annual conference. "Blair personally invited him to come to Conference. But he's gone to Paris instead. So we lied and said we hadn't invited him," the diary records.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313480.ece



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