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Brown feared sack over Iraq
11/10/2006 12:19 - (SA)
London - Treasury chief Gordon Brown offered public support for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq only a few days before the conflict began, prompted by fears he would be dismissed from his high-ranking post, a former senior minister claimed on Wednesday.
Brown, widely seen as likely to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister, was involved in tense discussions in cabinet meetings before a parliamentary vote to authorise military action, former home secretary David Blunkett said in extracts of his dairy published on Wednesday in two British newspapers.
Blunkett said Brown gave his backing to the intervention only five days before a House of Commons vote on March 18, 2003, which was won by Blair's government.
"Gordon had decided he was coming on board," Britain's The Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers recorded Blunkett as dictating on diary tapes on March 13, 2003.
The ex-minister, who is blind and recorded his thoughts onto audio tapes for transcription, said that Brown had realised if he did not pledge support, Blair would "take him out when the military action is finished".
Brown on Tuesday rejected Blunkett's claims and said "if he is reported as saying that, he has been entirely misquoted".
The treasury chief's spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.
- AP
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