This interview was given to Andrew Grice, Political Editor of The Independent.

More than two months after her resignation from the Cabinet, Clare Short has only just held a "belated farewell party" in the basement of a London restaurant with 30 officials from her beloved Department for International Development (DfID). She told them: "Ministers come and go. Departments go on for ever."

But Ms Short shows every sign of going on and on. Her scatter-gun attack on Tony Blair when she resigned in June drew unfavourable comparisons with Robin Cook's departure on the eve of the Iraq war. Yet Ms Short has many reasons to feel vindicated. The failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq seems to have validated her claim that the public and Parliament were deceived by Mr Blair about an imminent Iraqi threat. Now her repeated warnings about the dangers of "spin", which began while Labour was in opposition, look more relevant than ever after the death of the weapons expert David Kelly.

Ms Short was driving to a meeting in her Birmingham Ladywood constituency when she heard on the radio that his body had been found. "The spat between Alastair Campbell and the BBC is just a game. He [Dr Kelly] got caught up in all the turbulence. If only he had said to his wife, 'I have had enough of this; let's go away for a few weeks'."

But with typical candour, she adds: "Dr Kelly's death is a complete tragedy If we all say that and never talk about all the Iraqi civilians who died - between 5,000 and 8,000 - then I think we don't give equal value to all human life."

The former secretary of state for international development insists the BBC had a "duty" to run the story which sparked the war of words with Downing Street, even if Andrew Gilligan, the BBC reporter, "spiced it up a little". And the BBC was right not to disclose its source, she says.

Ms Short believes the row is a diversion. Lord Hutton's inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, must be thorough, she says, she insists the nation must return to the "real questions": was the intelligence about Iraq's WMD exaggerated? Was there an imminent threat that justified the rush to war? Why was Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, not given more time? Were we deceived about France's position?

Ms Short believes Mr Blair used "half-truths and deceit" because he had convinced himself it would be bad for the world if the US went to war in Iraq alone. "I don't think a country can go to war because one individual makes that kind of analysis then misleads the Cabinet, Parliament and the country into what we are doing.

But I think he thought it was an honourable thing to do." On France, she goes further, accusing MrBlair of lying by telling her in a one-to-one meeting that Jacques Chirac would veto any new UN resolution authorising a war. "It is absolutely clear that this is untrue," she says. What the French President actually said on 10 March, she claims, was that if Mr Blix failed after being given more lime, military action would be inevitable.

The reason for the deception, she is sure, is that the Prime Minister had agreed a "pre-ordained date for war" with President George Bush. Mr Blair should have insisted the US first win full backing from the UN. "He did not have the guts to say, 'Sorry if you go now, we are not with you'. That would have been his legacy, a fantastically proud role for Britain."

She wants the Hutton inquiry to address another of her recurring themes, whether there was "an abuse of power in No 10". The Government says the Ministry of Defence followed "normal procedures", although they resulted in Dr Kelly being unmasked. Ms Short is unimpressed. "Normally if a civil servant talks to the press, you have a leak inquiry There would be no notion of a civil servant being named and thrown into the public arena, a media frenzy and a select committee. So normal procedures were breached. It is very difficult to say that was not for political purposes and that is very serious.

"lt is inconceivable that Geoff Hoon [the Defence Secretary] would not have discussed it with Alastair Campbell." She says the men passed notes to each other during meetings of the "war cabinet".

She welcomes the heavy hints that Mr Campbell, Mr Blair's closest aide, will depart after the Hutton inquiry but poses intriguing questions. "Can Tony manage without Alastair? On the other hand, does Tony want to start doing things differently? Or are they both so in it together, do they sink or swim together?"

Mr Campbell's exit, she hopes, will lead to a thorough overhaul of decision-making structures so they are broadened beyond a coterie inside No 10. "If Alastair chose to go, and that led to a determination to put back in place a decent, decision-making structure, it would be a good thing for this country." The Government, she says, is living proof of Marshall McLuan's thesis that the medium is the message. "What you are going to say in the media leads the policy rather than careful analysis of the merits before a decision, then thinking of how to present it. It is ailed by what is said to the media; that leads to this superficiality."

But spin is not just Mr Campbell's creation, she says, "It is Tony's way of doing it." Perhaps it is just modern politics, with actors becoming politicians and politicians acting. She concedes: "It is a phenomenon that goes wider- than Tony Blair"

The common thread runs through decision-making on Iraq to domestic policies such as foundation hospitals and university top-up fees, both of which she opposes. "It is more and more presidential but with the automatic majority of a parliamentary system, there is not the scrutiny of these really badly thought through ideas." Did she miss a crucial vote on foundation hospitals deliberately while still a minister? "I persuaded myself I should vote," she says. "But perhaps subconsciously I did not want to go."

Was she right to stay on in the Cabinet for two months after the start of the war? Although she was "vilified", she is glad she tried, even if, as she claims, Mr Blair threw her ideas about postwar Iraq out of the window.

"I was given all sorts of undertakings by the Prime Minister that he would just not adhere to," she says. "But for my own heart and conscience I am glad I tried, though I was a complete failure."

The Kelly affair has also improved the prospects of Ms Short's call for an "elegant handover" of power by Mr Blair. "We have to find a way without splitting and becoming vicious. That is the challenge of the next two years."

She forged "a real partnership" with Gordon Brown in her six years at International Development and says the Chancellor would be "the leading contender" if Mr Blair stands down. "I recognise his strengths, but I am not a Brownie. I am not good at being in anyone's faction." She says it is too early to say whom she would support in a leadership contest. But she is worried that Mr Brown was not "troubled" by Mr Blair's stance on Iraq, and offers a friendly warning: "We would have to have some honesty about the lessons from Iraq."

She reveals that, surprisingly she has not spoken to Mr Brown since she resigned in June. "I am sure he would be excruciatingly embarrassed. I am certainly not going to have him tell me what to say either For a time, we need to just leave it, as it would be misinterpreted if we did speak."

Ms Short says of her successor; Baroness Amos: "She is a very nice woman. Her heart is in the right place. She cares about development but she used to say, 'I am not a politician'. I hope she is now. The Foreign Office got very paranoid and jealous about DflD in a silly way. There is a danger now that it will try to weaken it."

She misses the department she moulded, which made a big impact on the international scene. She may write a book about her experience to challenge the neo-Conservative vision for the world, but adds: "I am not interested in a bitchy-book I am not interested in money"

At 57, Ms Short says there are other ways of playing a part without being a minister Would she come back? "Never say never, but I am not assuming I will." Would she run as deputy Labour leader if Mr Brown stands for leader? "I wouldn't rule It out, but I am not planning it either" With a hint of menace for Mr Blair she adds: "If a week is along time in politics, then two years is an eternity."