Deja Vu

Iran crisis is Blair's true legacy
By MAX HASTINGS
Daily Mail
Last updated at 23:01pm on 30th March 2007

One day in 1848, the Royal Navy warship HMS Fantome dropped anchor off the Greek port of Patras, and dispatched a boat to the shore to take on water.
Greek relations with Britain were then poor, following several incidents in which British subjects had allegedly been mistreated.

Local police in Patras detained the midshipman in command of the boat. He was held overnight before being grudgingly released.

Palmerston, Britain's Foreign Secretary of the day, professed outrage. It was he who invented what became known as '"gunboat diplomacy".

At first, the Greek government refused either redress to the British subjects - a pretty disreputable lot, as it happened - or an apology for the insult to Fantome's midshipman.

A powerful British fleet was cruising off the Dardanelles. Palmerston dispatched the Royal Navy to blockade first Piraeus, then every Greek port, and to seize any ship which attempted passage.

After a few weeks under siege, the Greeks caved in. The injured British subjects received handsome compensation. The little midshipman got his apology.

Compare and contrast that episode with the experience of 15 British service personnel, illegally seized by the Iranians, held prisoner and threatened with a show trial.

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