Anti-war protesters target Blair at cathedral
By Simon Caldwell
4 April 2008

Tony Blair was expected to face a huge anti-war protest when he made his debut speech on the subject of religion yesterday.

The former Prime Minister was due to speak on the subject of "faith and globalisation" at Westminster Cathedral as The Catholic Herald went to press.

But hundreds of demonstrators who object to his role in taking Britain into war in Iraq were planning to disrupt the event. They hoped to use a "wall of sound" to make as much noise as possible to drown out Mr Blair's words when he gave the first of six lectures on "Faith and Life in Britain".

Robin Best of the Stop the War Coalition, which organised the protest, told supporters that "we want people to bring musical instruments and sound making implements of every kind - drums, trumpets, saxophones, violins, cymbals, whistles, sirens, horns, rattles, saucepans and cans to bang".

He said: "We want every type of band, choir and musical group to join us, all with the aim of drowning out the speech of a man who should not be in a cathedral pulpit but in the dock of a criminal court.

He added: "No doubt Blair will be pontificating about the values and morality of his faith and how they guided him in making difficult decisions, like the slaughter of up to one million Iraqis and the total destruction of their country in an illegal war. Blair is a war criminal who should have been silenced five years ago by MPs in Parliament, when they had the chance to vote against a war which they knew was opposed by the vast majority of people in this country."

Protesters were expected to include a nun with a burglar alarm. At least two choirs and musical ensembles of every type were attending, along with individual musicians, drummers, percussionists and students from the Royal Academy of Music. Brian Eno, the former keyboard player with Roxy Music who went on to work with U2, Coldplay and David Bowie, was also due to take part.

Mr Blair was invited to give a lecture by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who received him into the Catholic Church just days before Christmas.

His conversion, though widely expected, drew criticism from some commentators partly because he had pursued a war the Vatican had vigorously opposed.

Less than a month before British troops went into action five years ago, Mr Blair was invited to Rome by Pope John Paul II where during a 15-minute meeting he was told in no uncertain terms that the Catholic Church was opposed to a war.

The Pope said Christians were called to be "guardians of peace" and that a war would "disturb the whole of the Middle East region and exacerbate tensions that unfortunately are already present". He said the "future of humanity will never be able to be assured by terrorism and the logic of war".

Mr Blair, however, later told television chat show host Michael Parkinson that he felt he was carrying out God's will by invading Iraq even though no weapons of mass destruction - the reason for the war - were ever found.

Catholic peace activists were also planning to hold a silent vigil on the Cathedral piazza before the major demonstration begins, during which they would hold up banners quoting Pope John Paul's warnings.
Pat Gaffney, the general secretary of Pax Christi UK, a Catholic peace movement, said: "Many people are dismayed that he has been able to act against clear Catholic teaching on this."

Bruce Kent, an activist who left the priesthood to campaign against nuclear weapons as an MP, said he would like to see Mr Blair acknowledge his mistakes. "Mr Blair launched an illegal war on false pretences in violation of the United Nations charter," he said. "I don't think he has a good enough track record to be preaching on 'faith and globalisation'."

Catholic officials have said in the past that Mr Blair's conversion "is not retrospective" and that he does not have to account for previous actions and beliefs. Pope Benedict XVI received the news of his conversion "with joy". Shortly after leaving Downing Street last June, after a decade in office, Mr Blair accepted the role as the Middle East peace envoy of the quartet of the US, EU, Russia and the UN. Last month he also accepted a job at Yale University - one of the top three universities in America - giving seminars on "faith and globalisation", in which he will focus on how religion can be used to further international relations. In Britain, he will launch the Tony Blair Faith Foundation within the next few months, and this will have similar objectives. Last week Gordon Brown endorsed Mr Blair, 54, as the man to be the European Union's first permanent president.

Mr Blair is able to command fees of £75,000 for lectures in the US, but it is believed that he has agreed to speak at Westminster Cathedral for free. For security reasons the Church kept the identity of the first of its guest speakers a secret but it was leaked to the press.