'Feud led to Howard snub of Iraq inquiry'

A 10-year feud between Michael Howard and top ex-mandarin Lord Butler lay behind the Tory leader's decision to pull out of the Iraq inquiry, insiders claimed today.

They disclosed that Mr Howard and Lord Butler clashed repeatedly when he was a Cabinet minister under John Major.

The quarrel reached its peak when Mr Howard was Home Secretary and the peer - then Sir Robin - was Mr Major's Cabinet Secretary, the most senior civil servant in the land.

It included a clash when Mr Howard demanded promotion for a top civil servant and asked Mr Major to overrule Lord Butler's objections. The pair were also said to have disagreed when Mr Howard sacked prisons chief Sir Derek Lewis.

Insiders - including an ex-Tory minister and a former Whitehall permanent secretary - told the Evening Standard the pair's "long history of antagonism" was probably why Mr Howard surprised observers this week by making a personal attack on Lord Butler's handling of the Iraq probe.

In a highly unusual break with traditional reluctance to blame officials for political decisions, the Conservative leader declared that he had "no problem" with Tony Blair's decisions about the Iraq inquiry but added: "Lord Butler has chosen to interpret his terms of reference in what I regard as an unacceptably restrictive fashion."

Lord Butler hit back saying committee members "regret the decision by the leader of the Opposition" to withdraw support for the inquiry.

According to the insiders the bad blood began in 1993 when Mr Howard was promoted by Mr Major from Environment Secretary to Home Secretary. Unusually, he insisted on taking with him his chief civil servant at the old department, Sir Richard Wilson, because he thought the Home Office needed a radical shake-up by an outsider.

The promotion for Sir Richard - now Lord Wilson - was opposed by Lord Butler. A former mandarin said: "Butler did not want Wilson to go to the Home Office. He had his own plans for the promotions of senior officials and relations between them were markedly cool after that.

"I can recall remarks made by Butler which suggested he did not have a high opinion of Howard. In those days Howard was not regarded as an elder statesman but a radical, almost a hothead."

Mr Howard took his case to Mr Major, who ruled in favour of Sir Richard. The previous chief civil servant at the Home Office, Sir Clive Whitmore, retired a few months early to make way.

It helped Sir Richard leapfrog a string of rivals to succeed Lord Butler as Cabinet Secretary in 1998. Lord Butler was thought to have been championing Sir Andrew Turnbull, who finally got the job when Sir Richard retired two years ago.

A former Conservative minister said: "It was a real power struggle. They have a long history of antagonism."