Hell hath no fury like Clare Short.
Her outpourings of the last week must be perplexing to even the most ardent opponents of the war against Saddam.
When I heard her original interview alleging British spies bugged the UN over Iraq, I thought she sounded odder than usual.
She has since admitted that the transcript of a conversation she claimed she saw might not have been about Iraq at all and it might have been another country that did the bugging.
But, never one to think before opening her mouth, the damage was already done.
I liked working with Clare and think she achieved much as International Development Secretary.
But no Minister or civil servant can sign the official secrets act and then, as soon as they disagree with something, leak it, or, as Clare has done, make wild allegations long after the event, the truth of which she knows cannot be tested.
The honourable thing to have done would have been to resign, as Robin Cook did, and engage in a proper debate about the rights and wrongs of the war. Instead, Clare hung on to her ministerial post, supported the war in Cabinet and Parliament and then resigned for bizarre reasons when the fighting was all but over.
Ever since, in a rage of self loathing, she has not sought to debate the issues, but impugn the integrity of her former Cabinet colleagues and, now, the intelligence services.
They cannot answer back, so we will probably never know what really went on and rightly so. No Government of any country is going to divulge such details of intelligence gathering. To do so would put in danger those men and women who risk their lives daily to keep us safe.
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