A week ago I reported in Panorama that the leading
Labour politician, Jack Straw, had published his autobiography – Last Man
Standing. I went on to say he had held two of the great departments of State,
the Home and Foreign Office under Tony Blair. Yet for Gibraltarians his name
will for ever be linked with the debacle over joint sovereignty with Spain in
2002.
The odd thing about his autobiography is there are
just two references to Gibraltar. The first relates to discussions on a Freedom
of Information Act and mentions briefly the shooting of the IRA suspects. The
second is a subheading to the chapter on his becoming Foreign Secretary
entitled “Life in the Air”. This is followed by the quotation: “Zimbabwe, and
Gibraltar – My answer to a close friend who’d asked in July 2002 what were the
biggest issues facing me as the new Foreign Secretary.”
The big international issues of the day such as Iraq
and Pakistan feature but although Straw claims Gibraltar was one of “the
biggest issues facing me” not another word.
I am at the Labour Party Conference this week and of course Jack Straw is in attendance. I asked his office could we meet? “Oh no” they said, “he’s far too busy promoting his book”.
So I contacted his publishers who said there was a
book signing - meet Jack Straw event on Tuesday night but other than that,
nothing. So he wasn’t far too busy promoting his book.
Nor was Mr Straw keeping a low profile although his labelling
of the former almost sainted leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, as an
alcoholic who was not fit to be prime minister probably didn’t endear him to
many party activists from that era.
So I took the opportunity to introduce myself to Mr
Straw, who seemed to recognise my name, and was only too happy to talk. I asked
him about the “Zimbabwe –Gibraltar” quote and if that was true why hadn’t he
mentioned Gibraltar in the chapter.
His answer was he had written a chapter on Gibraltar
but it wasn’t the Foreign Office who asked him to take it out but the
publisher. He said the book was overlong so something had to go and it was the
Rock.
Fair enough if true! However a chapter on Gibraltar
would certainly have boosted the sales and to be honest the book is not exactly
lengthy. The other oddity is that the heading to his Foreign Secretary chapter
is the one that belongs to the Gibraltar chapter. So maybe Pan Macmillan, his
publishers, not only has a paper shortage but also are lacking in competent editors.
So why isn’t Caruana not off the hook yet on the joint
sovereignty issue? Well it seems Jack Straw is now keen to tell the tale of
what happened over the joint sovereignty debacle in 2002 and is considering not
just a chapter but a book exclusively on that subject.
The Hain book in January of this year, which was also
being heavily promoted at the conference, revealed enough to suggest Caruana
had intended to back the joint sovereignty deal and had misled the Europe
Minister. However the fact is Hain is not a popular figure in the Labour Party
let alone outside of it. Jack Straw on the other hand is a big beast of British
politics and if he points the finger at Caruana then the accusations will
stick. Of course the former chief minister might challenge Mr Straw in court.
The only problem is that like Caruana Jack Straw is a lawyer too. Not only that
he was Lord Chancellor. “Game on” is I think the modern phrase.
