Blair Hit by UN Spying Claim, Attacks Accuser

By Mike Peacock

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain spied on U.N. chief Kofi Annan before the Iraq war, former minister Clare Short said on Thursday, threatening a fresh crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair as he tries in vain to put the conflict behind him.

Blair declined to address the claim, beyond saying British security services acted within domestic and international law.

But the U.N. declared any such operation would be illegal.

"This is something which is not entirely surprising," Andreas Nicklisch, deputy director of the U.N.'s Brussels office told Reuters. "It's illegal of course, but it's also unnecessary because we work in complete transparency and openness."

Short's allegation comes a day after Britain dropped charges against a translator who admitted leaking a top-secret U.S. document seeking London's help in bugging United Nations members in the run-up to the war.

The former aid minister, who resigned after the war but was in government during the period when London and Washington sought U.N. authorization for military action, said Secretary-General Annan's office had been specifically targeted.

"In the case of Kofi's office, it was being done for some time," Short told BBC Radio. "I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his conversations."

Blair reacted angrily to his now frequent critic, saying she was undermining the intelligence services and British security as it faced a real threat from ruthless Islamic militants.

"The fact that those allegations were made... is deeply irresponsible," he told a news conference in his Downing Street home. "We are going to be in a very dangerous situation as a country if people feel they can simply spill out secrets or details of security operations, whether false or true."

BLAIR CAN'T SHAKE IRAQ

Iraq has become a political nightmare for Blair. Ten months after Saddam Hussein was toppled, none of the banned weapons Blair claimed Iraq had primed for use has been found.

The premier's public trust ratings have slumped and many in his Labour Party feel betrayed to the point of mutiny.

Bob Worcester of pollsters MORI said Blair remains favorite to win a third term at next year's election but with a halved majority of 60-80 in the 659-seat parliament, from 161 now.