This Is Blackburn – Man in the white suit wades in: Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s record on Iraq makes him worse than disgraced former MP Neil Hamilton, according to anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell. The veteran journalist and ex-MP, who ousted the cash-for-questions Tory in Tatton in 1997, spoke out in Blackburn last night… He threw his weight behind the independent candidate for the Blackburn election, Craig Murray. “Tony Blair and Straw have committed far worse offences than Neil Hamilton. They misled the country and took the country to war. I have worked in war zones, I have been in the army. I know what war does… People here have a unique opportunity to stop another war and send a clear message to Downing Street”.

Jack Straw has admitted that his government uses information extracted under torture, but now he claims that Craig Murray’s criticisms are “just a smokescreen”. A smokescreen for what?