Labour stalwarts blast war on Iraq

While Tony Blair was trying to justify the military action against Saddam Hussein at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth, local branch chairman Charlie Short and secretary Chris Baron were hitting out.

Mr Short and Mr Baron, both of whom are local councillors, felt the war had affected the standing of Mr Blair and their party.

But both remained confident that Labour could survive the aftermath of the war — and the associated Hutton Inquiry — and go on to win the next General Election.

Confessed Mr Short: "We are not viewed very well at the moment.

"We have seen this in the recent by-election in Brent East and also in our own council elections here in Ashfield.

"People do want to see what they are paying for. When Blair came in, he had support from the public that was bordering on the fanatical. After 18 years of the Tories, people wanted to see change quickly."

On Iraq, he added: "My personal view is that I was glad to see Saddam go but I had a lot of objections to the war.

"I don't like the idea of the blood of British troops being spilt when we should let the people of Iraq run the country themselves."

He praised Mr Blair for setting up the Hutton Inquiry, which was set up to look at the circumstances of the apparent suicide of government weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, in the wake of the war.

And he saw no evidence to suggest that Hucknall people might think the inquiry was damaging the government.

"I don't think the Prime Minister misled Parliament," Mr Short asserted.

Mr Baron said: "I was opposed to the war on Iraq and I will always be opposed to it. We did not get a proper United Nations mandate."

Mr Baron felt the decision to go to war was indicative of a potential rift between the Labour hierarchy and its grass roots.

"The senior officials in the party and the leadership are not listening to the rank and file," he said.

"The leadership knows that the rank and file members are the ones who are delivering the message. They do have to listen to us.

"However Blair has a very difficult job at the moment. People want and expect more of him and of politicians in general."