[continued from previous message] 
  
 The President of the US is not going to take any option off the table. 
 That is perfectly sensible for all the reasons the President has himself 
 given many, many times". 
  
 There is said to be jubilation this weekend among Washington's 
 neo-conservatives at Mr Straw's demise. One retired senior US 
 intelligence officer told his British counterpart recently that the 
 White House lost confidence in the Foreign Secretary at least six months 
 ago. 
  
 It was an analysis, we now know, shared by Mr Blair. The PM's aides say 
 Mr Straw has a tendency to brief friendly journalists with the details 
 of a contentious meeting, sometimes within hours. 
  
 Mr Blair was once moved to rebuke Mr Straw in a cabinet meeting for 
 briefing to The Sunday Times his preference for a referendum on the EU 
 constitution, boxing the PM into an option he was then resisting. 
  
 When at last the constitution finally hit the buffers Mr Straw called Mr 
 Blair as he holidayed in Tuscany with the news. A report at the time 
 stated: "Mr Blair had to calm the Foreign Secretary and urge him to 
 contain his delight at the constitution's demise. When he put the phone 
 down, the Prime Minister simply said: 'Tart'." While Mr Straw can claim 
 to have been loyal in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, his 
 behaviour since has occasionally teetered on the edge of unacceptability. 
  
 Downing Street figures note that leaks of Foreign Office papers on Iraq 
 almost always show Mr Straw as a moderating influence over Blair and Bush. 
  
 Then there was his "grandstanding" with Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary 
 of State. Her visit to Blackburn prompted a mixture of contempt and 
 irritation among Blairites as Mr Straw milked it for every possible 
 media advantage. 
  
 But it was the looming crisis in Iran that is being blamed by Mr Straw's 
 friends for his demise. Mr Blair is said to regard the country's nuclear 
 ambitions as the greatest threat to the world and had grown weary of Mr 
 Straw's efforts to block any possibility of a military strike. Margaret 
 Beckett, his successor, can expect to be asked whether she too regards 
 it as "inconceivable" that force could be used against Tehran at the 
 first opportunity. The new Foreign Secretary flies to New York tomorrow 
 to meet Ms Rice and discuss a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran. 
  
 Mr Straw's decision to accept his demotion is double-edged for Mr Blair. 
 While he has humbled an enemy, he has not killed him and left him in a 
 post that is more powerful than it looks. As Leader of the House, Mr 
 Straw can build support for his ally Gordon Brown among backbenchers. 
  
 Mr Straw now controls the legislative programme, so Mr Blair might find 
 he needs the man he demoted more than he would like as he struggles to 
 ram controversial laws through the Commons. 
  
 "Jack will bide his time, nursing his wounds and waiting for his moment 
 of revenge," said a former cabinet colleague last night. 
  
  
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