Short attacked over bugging claim
Former foreign secretary Robin Cook has cast doubt on Clare Short's claims that the UK spied on UN chief Kofi Annan.
He said he "would be surprised" if it were true Britain had intercepted the calls of Kofi Annan and he urged Ms Short to "put up or shut up".
Mr Cook is among a group of former ministers who have rounded on Ms Short for her outburst which they say is part of efforts to undermine Tony Blair.
But the ex-international development secretary said she stood by her claims.
'Courteous' diplomat
She denied putting the UK or its security services at risk by saying Mr Annan's phone calls were bugged.
And after Tony Blair branded the claims "deeply irresponsible", Ms Short hit back by accusing the prime minister of using "pompous" distraction tactics.
She told BBC Two's Newsnight there was no national interest that justified spying on the UN secretary general.
Meanwhile Richard Butler, the former UN chief weapons inspector, claimed at least four countries bugged his conversations and he is convinced the UN's headquarters in New York is full of spies.
In an article for The Independent, Mr Cook appeared to dispute Ms Short's assertions.
"I would be surprised if it were true that in the run-up to the war on Iraq we intercepted the calls of Kofi Annan," he said.
"I never met anyone in the diplomatic community less likely to engage in subterfuge than Kofi.
"If I, while foreign secretary, wanted to know his honest views, he would courteously and patiently explain them to me if I rang up and asked."
Bugging warning
He said later: "This is part of Clare's political agenda to undermine the prime minister, and it is damaging both to the government and to the party which gave her all the privileges she enjoyed in government.
"She should now put up or shut up."
But former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said he was "not surprised" by the claims because he had been warned his office would be bugged.
"From the first day I entered my office they told me: 'Beware, your office is bugged, your residence is bugged and it's a tradition member states who have the technical capacity to bug will do it without hesitation'," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mr Boutros-Ghali called for more to be done to protect the UN chief from spying, which he said could cause problems for diplomats and negotiations to fail.
But he added that if he, like Ms Short, had been part of the British government he would not have spoken out.
That view was echoed by Ms Short's former Cabinet colleagues, including Jack Cunningham, who warned that anyone accepting the position she had should "accept and comply with the duty and obligations" and the privileges that came with it.
Silence call
"Clare Short obviously has a personal agenda which is to attack, damage and undermine the prime minister at every opportunity and sadly, that's been the hallmark of her conduct and behaviour since she left the government."
Ex-Scotland secretary Helen Liddell said Ms Short's remarks were "completely unsubstantiated".
"I think a period of silence from Clare might be appreciated," she said.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult to work out where Clare is coming from. This is a pattern of behaviour that really is confounding her friends and colleagues and I don't think it is doing the country any good."
Ms Short's former deputy, George Foulkes, said she had no evidence for her claims and the fisheries minister, Ben Bradshaw, accused her of impugning Mr Blair's integrity.
The UN has said if the claims were true the UK had undermined Mr Annan's work. Chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said any bugging would be illegal and should be stopped.
Answers needed
A former British ambassador to the UN, Sir Crispin Tickell, told Today that Ms Short had committed a "major breach of confidence".
But he said bugging was not necessarily "a bad thing" if done in the national interest - and he doubted whether her claim had affected diplomatic trust.
Edward Mortimer, Mr Annan's director of communications, said the UN had asked the British government whether Ms Short's claims were true.
"I don't think we have got an answer precisely on that," he told Today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3492250.stm