Tony Blair\u2019s government discussed how to \u201cinfluence\u201d John Howard when it came to committing Australian troops to Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein\u2019s regime, newly released files in the UK show.<\/p>\n
They also reveal that one of Howard\u2019s own defence ministers told a Downing Street official that the Australian prime minister was not \u201ckeen\u201d on sending troops to Afghanistan and privately advised the British leader should raise the issue with Howard \u201cto get him focused on the need for Australia to contribute\u201d.<\/p>\n
The UK Cabinet Office and Foreign Office files, released by Britain\u2019s national archives, provide an insight into how Blair\u2019s government worked to flatter the Australian Liberal party prime minister, who appeared equally eager to foster a close relationship with the UK Labour prime minister.<\/p>\n
This followed the re-election of Howard\u2019s Coalition in the 2004 federal election. A note to key Downing Street staff recounting a congratulatory call by Blair to Howard on the day of the win recorded that the UK leader had hailed it as \u201can incredible result and a tribute to Howard\u2019s leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cComment: a notably warm call,\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n
Less than four months earlier, a cable to Downing Street from the British High Commission in Canberra reported on conversations with Australian government figures as Howard\u2019s government weighed up committing troops to the UN protection force in Iraq.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are to influence Howard\u2019s decision the timing for the prime minister\u2019s call is perfect,\u201d reported a diplomat, who said that speaking note prepared for Blair in advance of a call appeared to \u201cstrike the right tone\u201d.<\/p>\n
John Howard and Tony Blair at a joint news conference in the UK in 2003. Photograph: Toby Melville\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Later in the same year, another internal note to Downing Street reported on a meeting between Nigel Sheinwald, then Blair\u2019s top foreign policy adviser, and Robert Hill, Howard\u2019s defence minister, at a summit in Bahrain.<\/p>\n
Hill had just come back from Iraq, where he had been reviewing Australian troops, and the security situation was worse than he expected. Sheinwald took the opportunity to broach the situation in Afghanistan where there was a shortfall in the Nato troop contribution and told Hill that Britain would \u201cvery much welcome Australian help\u201d.<\/p>\n
The note records: \u201cHill said this was a tricky political issue for his Government. Nor was Howard keen. He advised \u2013 in confidence \u2013 that the Prime Minister raise this with Howard to get him focussed on the need for Australia to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the following year, a focus had shifted to convincing Australia to commit hundreds of troops to Iraq.<\/p>\n
A note prepared for Blair in advance of a call with Howard on 20 February 2005 at the Australian leader\u2019s request noted that the cabinet in Canberra would decide that week on whether to send 450 troops to help replace a Dutch contingent protecting a Japanese unit in the Iraqi province of Al Muthanna.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Australians do not take this one on, we will have to do it alone,\u201d wrote David Quarrey, Blair\u2019s private secretary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Australian Cabinet is likely to approve the request. But it has required a complicated diplomatic dance to get this far. Howard, for domestic reasons, wanted to be asked by the Japanese (and us) to deploy Australian forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the Japanese prime minister, Quarrey added: \u201cKoizumi for his own domestic reasons (and a preference for UK rather than Australian protection for the Japanese) was reluctant to make the request.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we managed to get Koizumi to call Howard. And if Howard can tell his Cabinet on Tuesday that you have also spoken to him, then the deal should be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quarrey advised: \u201cYou do not need to ask Howard to send Australian troops. But you should say you would greatly appreciate it if his Cabinet were able to agree to send them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Blair\u2019s government discussed how to \u201cinfluence\u201d John Howard when it came to committing Australian troops to Iraq…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-379726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}