VIEWPOINT

IF there were no local elections due in just over a week Tony Blair would surely be boxing the ears of some of his senior ministers and even embarking on a Cabinet re-shuffle. The Prime Minister's own standing in public estimation has improved as a result of the efficient conduct of the Iraq war but some of his ministers are showing the strain they are under and others are rowing publicly like spoilt children. The erratic behaviour of Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, is giving particular cause for concern. When Mr Blair persuaded her to remain at her post, despite having called him “reckless” immediately before the Iraq war began, it was thought to be because of her detailed knowledge of the resources that would be needed for the post-war humanitarian effort. But her bizarre behaviour last weekend put a question mark over her contribution: first she issued a statement reiterating her earlier criticisms and saying of the removal of Saddam Hussein that “I don't think the death of any human being is a price worth paying”; then an hour later she withdrew those remarks and said she had ”always been willing to contemplate the use of force.” The spat between Home Secretary David Blunkett and Lord Chancellor Irvine is undignified and inappropriate. The latter criticised some of the the former's social legislation as “draconian” and “an extreme example of the nanny state”; Blunkett responded by accusing Lord Irvine of “having no experience of the misery which antisocial behaviour can bring”. Children, behave yourselves!