They Led Us Into a Disastrous War, Yet Still They Prosper. Why?

Five years on, and Jonathan Powell is just one of Blair's inner circle who continue to rise rather than apologise

How about 20 March? The publicists at Random House must have thought the anniversary of the war in Iraq would make a terrific peg upon which to hang the publication of Jonathan Powell's Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland. What could be more piquant than to publish Powell's thoughts on conflict resolution on the anniversary of a conflict supported by the same author?

As for our hero, the only risk attached to promoting his peacemaking skills in a week when he might, more properly, have been reflecting on his part in the deaths of 175 British soldiers, was the obvious similarity of this diversionary tactic to Jo Moore's very good day to bury bad news.

But where brazen acts of spin are concerned, the public has become more tolerant. Jo Moore's fate was universal contempt, followed by resignation, followed by atonement in a north London primary school. Jonathan Powell, on the other hand, has been indulged with a week of self-glorification, during which he depicted himself as a wry yet principled drudge, whose role in pushing this country into an illegal and catastrophic war has been hugely misunderstood.

To see him today, making the case for liberal interventionism, is to marvel that this must be the same boor who, according to Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to the US, once instructed him to 'get up the arse of the White House and stay there'. Although, to be fair to Powell and fellow alumni of Blair's Downing Street sofa, it's clear that, during their incumbency, the two activities were considered indistinguishable. More

War is the Health of the State