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Iraq Inquiry

Yes, as my hon. Friend says, he does not do that here. He just allows it to be known that the Government have changed their position. Well that is not good enough and, in this instance, it puts Sir John Chilcot in the almost impossible situation of having to undertake an exercise in post facto consultation and then to derive different terms of reference for the inquiry from those that were set out by the Prime Minister. One of the difficulties that the Prime Minister has had is what he said, categorically, in response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg):""We also have to take into account what serving officers will want to say to the inquiry. I think that…all those things involve a degree of confidentiality that would not suit a public inquiry".—[Official Report, 15 June 2009; Vol. 494, c. 29.]" That bold assertion lasted barely 24 hours before senior members of the military said what nonsense it was. I am pleased that the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks quoted Air Marshal Sir John Walker, the former head of defence intelligence, because his comment was powerful and chilling in its clarity. He said:""There is one reason that the inquiry is being heard in private and that is to protect past and present members of this Government. There are 179 reasons why the military want the truth to be out."" Those are 179 good reasons, and one might add that there are several hundred thousand other good reasons in the state of Iraq.