Beckett eh? One of the leading intellectuals de nos jours, whose breadth of vision is unsurpassed.

A woman of profound contrasts – caravan holidays and luxury royal flights – she is well accustomed to the rigours of foreign travel. So we can be confident that she'll be able to fully master her brief on Iraq and Iran virtually instantaneously.

Anyone care to look over her glorious record of achievement? The Defra disaster, (sorry, experience) – http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ministers/becke… – and so on. Those five years of faultless performance at Defra have honed her diplomatic skills to the point where the complexities of foreign affairs will be as nothing. Our national security and interests are clearly in safe hands.

As to Straw – such a loss is immeasurable. Mercifully….

Jack Straw should learn to keep his mouth shut. Blair is the decider!

"DID TONY BLAIR FIRE JACK STRAW OVER IRAN?":
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/

"There is a poetic justice here. One of the reasons that Blair had sacked Robin Cook as foreign secretary was to remove an obstacle to his war plans over Iraq, and his successor, poor Jack Straw is now paying a similar price."

From an article in The Independent:

"Mr Straw said on BBC Radio 4 that it was 'inconceivable' that Britain would support a military strike against Tehran. Four hours later, Mr Blair refused to go that far when challenged to do so at Prime Minister's questions by the former minister, Michael Meacher.

"Mr Blair accused Iran of fostering international terrorism, and said young people were signing up to be suicide bombers directed at US and UK targets. 'I do not think this is the time to send a message of weakness,' he said."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article…

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More lies from Blair.

A relative handful of Iranians are signing up to attack British and American targets, and they will only do so IF Iran is attacked – that is what they have said.

Iran has been threatened with war, so it is preparing for war.

Blair is trying to fool the public into believing that if we don't attack Iran first, they WILL attack us, that there is another imminent threat. Hence, another "pre-emptive" war is needed.

If Blair was wired to a lie detector, the machine would explode.

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Iran has little choice but to acquire a nuclear deterrent, given that America has, apparently, drawn up plans to attack Iran if the U.S. is subjected to another 9/11-type terrorist attack.

Chuck, this link doesn't work:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ministers/becke…

- All of which shows how quickly things change and how the mighty are fallen. You're absolutely right, the link has gone – maybe it'll reappear on the FCO site at http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=Open….

In the blinking of an eye Beckett's CV and stunning 'record of achievement' is obliterated from the Defra site, hastily adjusted, a flattering if rather ancient portrait added, and then reposted on the FCO publicity organ.

But do not be concerned, Mrs Brillo Pad will be penning and publishing her memoirs shortly. In these one will learn real facts of her truly superb career and outstanding service to the nation and humanity as a whole.

Of course there'll be no problem in getting the unvetted and unexpurgated version published by one of Tony's pals – assuming he still has any by then.