The war was sold to his cabinet, to parliament and to the British people on the basis that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man holding weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that could be unleashed within 45 minutes.
VOA: standard.2009.12.13
Holding its first Cabinet meeting Thursday, the government agreed to scrutinize public spending and review all Cabinet ministers' wages, spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.
Mr Major's job of holding together a fractious cabinet on a vanishing majority was made much harder by his being constantly caricatured as a dithering wimp.