Posted on 26-2-2004
White
House rebuffs UK contracts bid
Terry Macalister
Top-level lobbying by British ministers on a trip to Washington
on behalf of UK companies trying to win work in Iraq has been
rebuffed by White House officials.
The trade minister, Mike O'Brien, insisted at a reconstruction
conference on Tuesday that his visit had been successful, but
well-placed sources argue differently.
Confidential papers seen by the Guardian show the US national
security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, phoned Tony Blair's office
to discuss the issue after she read a leak about the concerted
lobbying in this newspaper on February 13.
But Mr O'Brien and Tony Blair's trade envoy, Brian Wilson,
were told clearly there could be no special efforts to help
win deals for UK firms.
"The White House is sympathetic but officials there say
they cannot intervene in a procurement process handled by the
Pentagon," said a well-placed source.
Briefing documents dated February 20 - before the trip to Washington
- suggest Mr Blair might raise the issue directly with President
George Bush if there is no progress. "Depending on the
outcome of the minister's visit, he [Mr O'Brien] may want to
recommend to the prime minister that he raise this directly
with President Bush," according to documents marked "restricted".
The British government has become embarrassed about domestic
firms' failure to win a big slice of the Iraq reconstruction
contracts. Billions of dollars worth has gone to American companies
such as Halliburton, which used to be headed by US vice-president
Dick Cheney.
A new round of contracts come up early next month and the UK
looks better placed, with stakes in 15 of the 17 bids being
considered. But there is still acute nervousness.
Mr O'Brien told a London gathering on rebuilding Iraq that
20 UK firms had already won deals, although he denied he had
made the visit to Washington last week to plead Britain's case.
The trip had been "to discuss transparency and a level
playing field".
But the documents prepared ahead of that meeting make clear
the true reason for the mission by Mr O'Brien and Mr Wilson.
Special guidance on how to handle media interest in the Washington
trip argues: "The purpose of the visit is to lobby for
UK contracts and if there [are] none offered, then the media
would report on this negatively."
Despite Mr O'Brien's comments that "we have secured quite
a lot of contracts already", the briefing documents from
the UK trade and investment unit of the Department of Trade
and Industry admit the question of how successful UK firms are
in Iraq is "impossible to answer" because details
are not available.
The Guardian revealed two weeks ago that Mr O'Brien and Mr
Wilson were planning a trip to the US to lobby for more UK contracts,
and the article triggered a flurry of action in Washington.
The latest set of confidential documents reveal that "Condoleezza
Rice telephoned Nigel Sheinwald [Mr Blair's special foreign
affairs envoy] on February 13 to ask about the Guardian article
that day".
Last night Mr Wilson insisted the US trip was not aimed at
avoiding political embarrassment but an attempt to ensure Britain
benefited commercially from the "biggest construction programme
in history".
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