#tony-blair

#tony-blair

Tony Blair believed his Labour government had defeated the threat of a breakup of the UK by delivering devolution to Wales and Scotland, newly released documents reveal. Rejecting calls in 2004 for the then-Welsh Assembly to have full law-making powers, he said voters in Wales and Scotland had "no appetite" for more powers and that his government had "lanced the boil of separatism". The then-prime minister made the comments during a significant government cabinet discussion on further devolution for Wales - the minutes of which have just been released.

A senior aide wrote to the prime minster in July 2005 to tell him that the attorney general had met army prosecutors that afternoon to discuss the case against soldiers alleged to have beaten Baha Mousa to death. It was likely the case would proceed to a court martial, wrote Antony Phillipson, the then prime minister's private secretary for foreign affairs, adding: Although if the AG felt that the case were better dealt with in a civil court he could direct accordingly. It must not!

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Many actors involved in negotiations to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and begin its reconstruction breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of the most polarising figures in international diplomacy, was removed from the proposed board of peace, tasked with overseeing the transitional phase in the Strip.

Donald Trump's and Benjamin Netanyahu's nomination of former British prime minister Tony Blair, his hands already crimson with the blood of innocent Iraqis, to run postwar Gaza, brings to mind a distant era when London sent its politicians out to be viceroys in its global colonial domains. Consider Blair's proposed appointment, made (of course!) without consulting any Palestinians, a clear signal that the Middle East has entered a second era of Western imperialism.

The plan wants all 48 captives still held in Gaza to be released immediately, in exchange for allowing entry of humanitarian aid, freezing battle lines, and the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli military jails. The plan would also see Hamas disarm, offer fighters who renounce violence amnesty, and allow others who refuse to leave Gaza.

The former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair has been involved in discussions about running a transitional authority in Gaza if there is a ceasefire, the BBC understands. Sir Tony, who took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003, has been in high-level planning talks with all parties to end the war and on the post-conflict future for the Palestinian territory, it is understood.

The White House meeting came after the Israeli military warned Palestinians that the evacuation of Gaza City was "inevitable", as its forces prepare to conquer it. Israeli tanks pushed into a new area of the city overnight, destroying houses and forcing more residents to flee, witnesses said. Thousands of people have already moved because of recent Israeli advances - mostly to other parts of the city, where about a million Palestinians still live.