Gordon Brown ran into fresh trouble today as he announced that the long-awaited Iraq war inquiry would be held in secret. Opposition parties and campaigners reacted angrily as he said that the inquiry, to be headed by the former mandarin Sir John Chilcot, would be along the lines of the Franks inquiry into the Falklands, which was held in private, and would not report until after the general election. The inquiry will cover the period from July 2001 to July 2009. It will begin work next month and take at least a year, Mr Brown said. Its aim will be to identify "lessons learned" and not to "apportion blame". Mr Brown's decision to announce the inquiry was seen as part of his effort to regain the initiative after his leadership troubles. But he appeared to have upset Labour MPs who have been demanding an inquiry in public.
Gordon Brown ran into fresh trouble today as he announced that the long-awaited Iraq war inquiry would be held in secret.
Opposition parties and campaigners reacted angrily as he said that the inquiry, to be headed by the former mandarin Sir John Chilcot, would be along the lines of the Franks inquiry into the Falklands, which was held in private, and would not report until after the general election.
The inquiry will cover the period from July 2001 to July 2009. It will begin work next month and take at least a year, Mr Brown said. Its aim will be to identify "lessons learned" and not to "apportion blame".
Mr Brown's decision to announce the inquiry was seen as part of his effort to regain the initiative after his leadership troubles. But he appeared to have upset Labour MPs who have been demanding an inquiry in public.
After the [cough] full investigation we're pleased to report [slightly strained smile] that there were no irregularities in the run up to the war [shuffle, shuffle] and that parliament was kept fully informed in every applicable way. [paper rustles, ambient coughing, cameras clicking]
I'd like to thank my colleagues [etc, etc...]
You were expecting democracy?
So there will be a new "inquiry" that will ask irrelevant questions and deliberate for long enough insecret to allow the next election to be conducted without embarrasing questions. Of course the final result, like the Franks, Butler & Hutton inquiries before it, will come up with an answer that is entirely consistent with the status quo.
But that's what these inquiries are for, to kick difficult questions into long grass in th future and then, lo and behold.. confirm what the original govt wanted you to believe in the first place, move along nothing to see here. No govt has ever commissioned an inquiry that might come back and report that they were wrong or lying. And no inquiry would ever do that cos it would be a career limiting decision. keep to the Fen Causeway
