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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tony Blair Blair's 'Hell Week'
Aired January 27, 2004 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair's credibility is on the line this week. He faces two major political challenges, and that has led some commentators to call this week "Blair's hell week."
CNN's Robin Oakley is following the developments from London -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: "Hell week" indeed, Fredricka. Twenty minutes from now, two crucial developments in Tony Blair's life. He will have landing on his desk a report of the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly, a report that's due to be published tomorrow and which could have huge implications for Mr. Blair's future.
At the same time, MPs in the British House of Parliament will start debating the crucial reforms that he's pushing forward for Britain's universities. Mr. Blair has invested his whole authority in the bill to reform the universities. And if he is defeated on this, it will shatter his parliamentary authority. Only three times in the last 100 years has the government gone down on anything so central to its program.
Then, with the report of the Hutton inquiry tomorrow, two crucial questions to be answered: Did Blair push the intelligence services into agreeing to sex-up the dossier making the case for war against Iraq? And did he and his ministers, like Geoff Hoon, the defense minister, push the unwitting Dr. David Kelly out into the public domain to help fight their battle against the BBC on the sexing-up claim in a way that left Kelly unprotected and liable to commit suicide, as he's believed to have done -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: A lot is at stake for Blair. Either he'll be weakened or very much strengthened in the end, depending on whether there is indeed a no-confidence vote or not out of parliament.
OAKLEY: Well, indeed. Yes, he could call a confidence vote in his government if he goes down on the educational question, but his authority will still be badly damaged. It will show him out of touch with his own MPs. It would be amazingly careless when youve got a majority of 160 to go down on an issue like that.
And on the Hutton inquiry, if the Hutton inquiry finds Blair to blame for Kelly's death, then a majority of the British public says in the opinion polls that he ought to resign. And he will anyway be damaged by the report's revelations about the way in which the government made its case for war against Iraq -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Robin Oakley, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 27, 2004 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair's credibility is on the line this week. He faces two major political challenges, and that has led some commentators to call this week "Blair's hell week."
CNN's Robin Oakley is following the developments from London -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: "Hell week" indeed, Fredricka. Twenty minutes from now, two crucial developments in Tony Blair's life. He will have landing on his desk a report of the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly, a report that's due to be published tomorrow and which could have huge implications for Mr. Blair's future.
At the same time, MPs in the British House of Parliament will start debating the crucial reforms that he's pushing forward for Britain's universities. Mr. Blair has invested his whole authority in the bill to reform the universities. And if he is defeated on this, it will shatter his parliamentary authority. Only three times in the last 100 years has the government gone down on anything so central to its program.
Then, with the report of the Hutton inquiry tomorrow, two crucial questions to be answered: Did Blair push the intelligence services into agreeing to sex-up the dossier making the case for war against Iraq? And did he and his ministers, like Geoff Hoon, the defense minister, push the unwitting Dr. David Kelly out into the public domain to help fight their battle against the BBC on the sexing-up claim in a way that left Kelly unprotected and liable to commit suicide, as he's believed to have done -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: A lot is at stake for Blair. Either he'll be weakened or very much strengthened in the end, depending on whether there is indeed a no-confidence vote or not out of parliament.
OAKLEY: Well, indeed. Yes, he could call a confidence vote in his government if he goes down on the educational question, but his authority will still be badly damaged. It will show him out of touch with his own MPs. It would be amazingly careless when youve got a majority of 160 to go down on an issue like that.
And on the Hutton inquiry, if the Hutton inquiry finds Blair to blame for Kelly's death, then a majority of the British public says in the opinion polls that he ought to resign. And he will anyway be damaged by the report's revelations about the way in which the government made its case for war against Iraq -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Robin Oakley, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
