Is Blair doing it for Harry?

That's the question Breitbart.com is asking after Blair's surprise announcement that Britain will reduce her troop numbers in Iraq from 7,100 to 5,500 within the next few months as security responsibilities are handed over to homegrown forces. This comes amidst increasing and intense speculation that Prince Harry is about to be deployed after Defence Secretary Des Browne briefs MPs this Thursday on which military units will be sent to Iraq in April.

Cornet Wales in the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association parade in London's Hyde Park last May. Instead of ceremonial uniforms, officers follow the "City suit" tradition with black bowler hats, dark suits and closed umbrellas reflecting the pre-Great War, Edwardian "proper order of dress". Prince Harry is also depicted wearing the navy blue and claret regimental tie of the Household Division as he marched with his regiment, the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals.

It's a 'damned if they do, damned if they don't prospect' that Blair's announcement seems to go towards addressing because either the military is treating him with kid gloves or, if something happens to him, puts the third-in-line to the throne under unnecessary danger while attracting the attention of insurgents. Harry himself has said "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst, and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."

Of course, it is worth remembering in an august site such as this that our Monarch served as as No 230873 Second Subaltern in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II while Prince Philip was having a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, and a quarter of a century ago Harry's uncle Prince Andrew (then also 22), served with honour as an helicopter pilot on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible. At the time, he too had opponents who feared that his participation in the Falklands conflict would serve at best a distraction and at worst a liability to his colleagues. This was proven to have been anything but the case.