Helen Liddell, former Scottish Secretary, yesterday sparked a political row in Australia after opposition politicians picked up on her comments about terrorism and Iraq to attack John Howard, the country's Prime Minister.
Ms Liddell, Britain's High Commissioner in Canberra, said in a speech: "We have never seen Iraq as part of the war on terrorism. Certainly, at the moment, we are engaged in a war on the streets in Afghanistan, in Iraq against terrorism but our raison d'etre for our involvement in Iraq has not been about terrorism."
Australia's opposition Labour Party claimed her comments had exposed the "lies" of Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition government for having troops in Iraq.
Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Defence Minister, claimed Ms Liddell had unintentionally "embarrassed" Australia's leader: "She was a Cabinet Minister sitting at the table when Tony Blair took the decision to participate in the invasion of Iraq. She has made it quite clear it was never key in the battle against terror."
Mr Fitzgibbon claimed Ms Liddell had disproved Mr Howard's claim a withdrawal from Iraq would be a big help to terrorist organisations.
The Labour Party, which is leading in this year's general election polls, has pledged to withdraw the country's 1400 troops from Iraq if it wins power.
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