The reason, given by a spokesman of this group when interviewed, was that the last straw was Blair's backing of Bush the other day when Bush tore up the "Road Map", and lined up behind Sharon.

People on the inside always have a dilemma as to whether to keep schtum and button their lips, and hold on to some kind of influence, and maybe to minimise damage, or to blow the whistle and lose any influence. Worries about losing jobs and pensions are obviously a factor too, but not the only one.

That's been the rationale given for Blair repeatedly. We've been told that by backing Bush in public he's got some kind of hope of edging him towards some kind of sane policies. The same kind of thing we were told about Wilson and LBJ in the time of Vietnam - though at least Wilson never got as far joining in militarily that time.

And the reason why the Bush-Blair-Sharon love-fest was the final straw, it was suggested, was because it indicated that all that kind of rationale was a sham, and that compared to Sharon any influence Blair might have had was that of a featherweight.

Since we don't actually know what kind of advice they were giving when they were in post, it's a bit much discounting anything they say now on the grounds that what they might have said then was mistaken. (After all the advice that would have mattered would have been the stuff we don't get to see for decades.)