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Blair said, ‘Let’s not talk about Iraq’

Blair said to me: ‘Let’s not talk about the war’

Mary Wakefield

Wednesday, 3rd October 2007

An interview with the novelist Robert Harris

And what of Blair’s other great betrayal: of Britain to America? The pivotal moment in The Ghost comes when our writer hero is asked by a former foreign minister to name one thing Britain has done recently which hasn’t been in the interest of the United States. The question is unanswered, left hanging over the second half of the book, and over recent British history. ‘Well,’ says Harris, ‘it’s unanswerable isn’t it? No one could deny that. Our country has ceased to have an independent foreign policy. It was not the case in Suez, it was not the case when Thatcher condemned some of Reagan’s foreign policy, but somehow, over the last 15 years, it has become true. The notion that we should station missile defences here that can’t protect us, but can only protect America, is crazy.’

Hasn’t Gordon Brown distanced himself from America? I’m curious that Harris, one of England’s most astute Westminster-watchers, isn’t more cheered by our PM’s apparent independence from the States. Harris raises his eyebrows and looks out of the window. ‘That’s just strategy; lip-service. All the leading members of both parties are utterly in thrall to America: Cameron, Hague, Brown.... And what for? [He’s now sitting upright, engaged.] Islamic fundamentalism can’t seriously damage the West. Islamists can inflict atrocities from time to time, but dealing with them is basically an unglamorous police operation. By contrast, our actions in the Middle East have done us immense harm. They’ve demoralised our society, led to bloodshed in Iraq and made us look no better than they are.’

I remind Harris of the sinister ‘Arcadian Institute’ he created in The Ghost — a fabulous satire of self-important Washington think tanks, complete with their ponderous use of language and their murderous utopianism. ‘Oh, I hate those people more than anything!’ Harris laughs, animated by enmity.

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