Gordon Brown Ready to Announce Iraq War Inquiry
Investigation is expected to be based on model of secret meetings held to determine causes of Falklands war
Gordon Brown will announce this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, that an inquiry is to be held into the Iraq war.
Downing Street had indicated that no announcement would be made until August after the formal withdrawal of all British troops at the end of July.
But the prime minister indicated to labor MPs last week that an inquiry would be announced shortly.
His intentions became clear during the tense meeting of the parliamentary labor party where he faced calls for his resignation after a week of cabinet resignations and the European election drubbing.
It is expected to be based on the Franks inquiry, which examined the causes of the Falklands war in 1982. This consisted of six senior privy councilors who had full access to government papers but who met in secret. Margaret Thatcher, prime minister at the time, called the inquiry after securing the support of the other main parties.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, indicated that he would boycott the Iraq inquiry unless it was fully transparent.
"If it does not have this kind of remit, my party will not back it or participate," Clegg told the Observer. "We are talking about the biggest foreign policy mistake since Suez. To lock a bunch of grandees behind closed doors in secret and wait for them to come up with a puff of smoke, like the election of the pope ... would be an insult.
"This inquiry is an acid test for all of Gordon Brown's talk of reforming British politics. If he holds it all or partly in secret and kicks the eventual report into the long grass, it will be a betrayal of all those families who lost children serving in Iraq. They need answers, not another Whitehall stitch-up."
Downing Street had indicated that no announcement would be made until August after the formal withdrawal of all British troops at the end of July.
But the prime minister indicated to labor MPs last week that an inquiry would be announced shortly.
His intentions became clear during the tense meeting of the parliamentary labor party where he faced calls for his resignation after a week of cabinet resignations and the European election drubbing.
It is expected to be based on the Franks inquiry, which examined the causes of the Falklands war in 1982. This consisted of six senior privy councilors who had full access to government papers but who met in secret. Margaret Thatcher, prime minister at the time, called the inquiry after securing the support of the other main parties.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, indicated that he would boycott the Iraq inquiry unless it was fully transparent.
"If it does not have this kind of remit, my party will not back it or participate," Clegg told the Observer. "We are talking about the biggest foreign policy mistake since Suez. To lock a bunch of grandees behind closed doors in secret and wait for them to come up with a puff of smoke, like the election of the pope ... would be an insult.
"This inquiry is an acid test for all of Gordon Brown's talk of reforming British politics. If he holds it all or partly in secret and kicks the eventual report into the long grass, it will be a betrayal of all those families who lost children serving in Iraq. They need answers, not another Whitehall stitch-up."
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