And Mr. Blair, pleading the need to help his wife care for their newborn, stayed home.
But oil money has been pouring into the government's coffers, making it hard to plead the need for austerity.
Work outside the academy was forbidden for students, so McCann had to plead the need for experience when he was caught auditioning for an engagement.
Former foreign secretary Jack Straw and Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer, have said they cannot respond to allegations of conspiracy in the torture of a prominent Libyan dissident, pleading the need to protect official secrets.
After two months of negotiations, and with an agreed price of 550p a share on the table, the Swiss retired meekly on Monday, pleading the need to get their own house in order before attempting a £5.6bn takeover.
Though I managed to bat off most of my activist mother's entreaties to deliver leaflets on behalf of Labour – pompously pleading the need for journalistic impartiality – there was no escaping the gloom at home following a crushing defeat for the party both nationally and locally.
Not that the career real estate developer has an actual plan of his own, conveniently pleading the need to avoid "broadcasting our strategy to the enemy".
Let nobody plead the need to defend their country at national level and continental level!
"Money can buy everything we need," pleaded the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Pakistan, Jan Vandemoortele, "the one thing money can't buy is time".The blame gameSome Pakistanis are criticising America for not having done more, although it has sent some helicopters and promised money.
"We need a viable Republican candidate for president," pleaded the woman, Nancy Champion, a retired schoolteacher.
