Memo raises rendition questions

Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political Correspondent, BBC News website

Some of Tony Blair's remarks in the row over so-called extraordinary rendition have already raised a few eyebrows.

Blair ruled out an inquiry into flights

Both in the Commons and during his monthly press conference in December he appeared to suggest he knew nothing about the alleged practice, or that he had no evidence one way or the other, so was not going to launch an investigation into it.

On 7 December, he told then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, who led demands for an explanation: "I don't know what he's referring to."

And at his press conference on 21 December, he declared: "I am not going to start ordering inquiries into this, that or the next thing when I have got no evidence to show whether this is right or not."

That led to some rather puzzled questions from observers that, if he truly had no idea what was going on, should he not be finding out.

It was also remarked that he appeared to be unusually reluctant to get into the issue at all.

Within the law

If the leaked Foreign Office memo, dated 7 December and obtained by the New Statesman is genuine - and there is no suggestion it is not - it seems to offer an explanation of the prime minister's reaction to the row.

It states that rendition is probably illegal in international law and that its own investigations had uncovered two likely cases but that there "could be more".

Protests flared after rendition claims

It urges the prime minister to "try to move the debate on and focus people instead on (US Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice's clear assurance that US activities are consistent with their domestic and international obligations and never include the use of torture".

And that, claim the critics, is precisely what the prime minister did by replying to questions with an insistence he would "keep within the law at all times".

"The notion that I or the Americans or anyone else approve or condone torture or ill-treatment or degrading treatment, that's completely and totally out of order in any set of circumstances," he said.

Cover up

Sources have pointed out that the memo pre-dates the Foreign Secretary's subsequent replies on the issue - which suggest there were three cases - and which followed an internal "examination of files".

HAVE YOUR SAY Refusing to allow these flights will not stop them from happening Robert Neve, Newport, UK Send us your comments

And it is suggested it was perfectly reasonable for the prime minister to avoid offering specific answers before all the facts had been established, but to offer a reassurance he would never sanction anything illegal.

But the reassurances have not been enough to end demands for a more detailed explanation of the issue in the Commons amid claims of a cover up.

Opponents, including the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg, have demanded such a statement claiming the government is trying to spin its way out of the row.

And, it has been suggested, it is often the suggestion of a cover up rather than the original "offence", if there was one, that has landed politicians in trouble in the past.

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