Hoon tows the line

Former defence secretary Geoff Hoon has been giving evidence to the Chilcoot inquiry today as has told the panel that British involvement in the invasion of Iraq was not decided until it was approved by MPs.

The first cabinet member at the time to give evidence said

“I don’t believe he was ever unconditionally committing us to anything

he says of Tony Blair and reinforces that fact by telling the inquiry that in October 2002 the Americans were planning on the assumption that UK wouldn't give ground troops.

What he has also told the inquiry is that it was clear to him that Lord Goldsmith's conclusion was that there was a legal justification for military action based on 14.41.

“(There was) no doubt had Peter Goldsmith said this was illegal, there would have been no military action."

Time for Miliband to show his colours

Well the BBC's Nick Robinson calls it quite simply extraordinary.

It the decision of Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt to ask for a secret ballot on the leadership of their party.

With rumours unfolding during the week the move was made even as the PM was standing up in the house during PMQ's

As Nick explains

This call for a secret ballot is designed to overcome those two obstacles - by giving the initiative to backbenchers not the cabinet and by bringing forward the pain of public division so that the fear of it is removed as a factor.
Don't believe Labour MPs and ministers who say they've not talked about changing leader. For months the talk's been of little else.

But this is different.As Martin Kettle says

First, this is real and on the record, not speculative as almost everything since last spring has been. That makes it different. Two senior Labour backbenchers, both ex-ministers, one of them (Patricia Hewitt) who can be labelled as a Blairite, the other (Geoff Hoon) who can't, have broken cover. This is not, in other words, a revolt of the usual suspects. It is not an attempted Blairite coup. If you read that it is, you are being lied to. It is what it says on the tin.

As yet though real or not,without a high ranking challenger there is little prospect of this going much further other than defelcting the issues away from the parties policies as the election campaign gets underway.

Will David Miliband finally take the mantle? Accused of baulking out twice,will the party forgiven for a third time if he waits for electoral defaet before standing?

It has taken time but the cabinet are slowly coming out in favour of Brown.Amongst them his loyal ally Ed Balls,Transport minister Sadiq Khan and Shaun Woodward who tells Sky News he is "bewildered" by the calls for secret ballot, and urges Hoon and Hewitt to back down.

Chief Whip Nick Brown also says that Hoon and Hewitt have "no significant support" in push for leadership ballot.

Peter Mandelson menawhile has said that

'No one should over-react to this initiative. It is not led by members of the government. No one has resigned from the government. The prime minister continues to have the support of his colleagues and we should carry on government business as usual.'

So far conspicious by their absence are the Chancellor and the foriegn secretary but wtach this space

Alternate Whips and thoughts of retirement

Hats off to the Mail's Ben Brogan who has discovered that

Gordon Brown's chums have set up a parallel Whips' operation that answers to the Prime Minister rather than Mr Hoon. It is being organised by Nick Brown, the Deputy Chief Whip, and includes both Whips and non-Whips who have in common their unquestioning loyalty to the PM. Key figures in this operation include the former whip and minister George Mudie, Mr Brown's PPS Ian Austin, as well as Kevan Jones and Helen Jones, both members of the six-strong parliamentary committee who act as shop stewards for the PLP. Others in this group include Mark Tami and Wayne David, Whips who were among the coup plotters who helped do in Tony Blair and were rewarded with Government jobs, and Tom Watson, seen by many MPs as the 2006 coup's enforcer who is now the blogging minister in the Cabinet Office.

Not only that but according to John Kampfner writing in the Telegraph says that for Labour MP's talking about Glasgow East

the word "meltdown" is on their lips. Evidence suggests they are running ahead of themselves, consumed in a gloom that is only partially rational, but the fear gives weight to the reality.
On the ground, many local Labour parties are effectively moribund. Much of the work is now done centrally, by email shots, social networking sites and telephone canvassing, but the financial state of the party nationally is so parlous that even much of this work is in jeopardy.

and

Several senior figures I have spoken to in recent weeks say they are considering standing down before the next election. This is a natural process, but such a retirement process accelerates as the prospect of opposition beckons.

More embarrassment for Gordon over 42 days

The Telegraph has got hold of a letter sent by the cheap whip Geoff Hoon to Keith Vaz,

“Dear Keith…Just a quick note to thank you for all your help during the period leading up to last Wednesday’s vote. I wanted you to know how much I appreciated all your help.”
“I trust that it will be appropriately rewarded!...With thanks and best wishes, Geoff.”

You may recall that in the run up to the vote on the 42 days detention,Mr Vaz,an opponent, was courted by the party to change sides and it was rumoured that he had been promised a knighthood.....hence the reference to being appropriately rewarded

David Cameron asked the Prime Minister at Pmq's whether any deals had been done over the vote and when the PM answered no,brought up the letter much to the embarassment of the party.