Blair accused of adopting presidential style

A report on Iraq intelligence sparked accusations on Thursday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair has adopted a presidential style and runs "government by sofa" with a coterie of unelected advisers.
He was cleared on Wednesday by a leading civil servant's report of tricking Britain into invading Iraq. But Lord Butler said that in future there should be clearer lines dividing those assessing intelligence and those advocating policy.
Critics honed in on Blair's informal, Clintonesque style of government, encapsulated in The Times newspaper's banner headline: "Flawed mix of spies and spin." Robin Cook, a former government minister who resigned from the cabinet in protest over the decision to go war, said: "We are in danger of drifting into a presidential style of government."
Butler made the same point in the measured language that characterised his long-awaited report.
"We are concerned that the informality and circumscribed character of the government's procedures which we saw in the context of policy-making towards Iraq risks reducing the scope for informed collective political judgement."
Blair has shaken up traditional practice, often sitting around with advisers in sofas at his Downing Street "bunker," discussing key policy issues over a cup of coffee.
It is a far cry from the traditional image of formal cabinet meetings, with issues being widely debated by ministers sitting at the long table while secretaries meticulously take minutes.
But deputy prime minister John Prescott rejected critics who accuse Blair of running a one-man band.
"This wasn't Tony Blair on his own. It was a collective responsibility of the cabinet..," he said, referring to the decision to go to war.
Charles Kennedy, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said the Butler report had omitted to look at the role of those who put Britain on the path to conflict.
"There is not the identification of the political operators involved, not just the elected politicians but unelected players - the (former chief spin doctor) Alastair Campbells of this world, the (chief of staff) Jonathan Powells of this world in and around 10 Downing Street in hugely important positions.