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Iraq Inquiry

I welcome the fact that there is going to be an inquiry, but I share the feeling expressed by other hon. Members that in reality, it is not the Prime Minister who is on trial in this debate but this House. I am quite happy to acknowledge that the terms of reference that the Prime Minister has set are unnecessarily and unhelpfully restrictive, both on the membership and make-up of the inquiry team and on its remit. However, it will be down to this House to determine whether we collectively are willing to run with something that, at the end of the day, will only add to the discredit and disbelief among the general public about the standing of the House. It is we collectively who are on trial, and I hope that Members will think carefully about that when they decide how to vote on the motion. My own belief is that the terms of reference of the inquiry are both too narrow and too wide. I agree with the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) that we could quite legitimately separate questions about the conduct of the war once we were in Iraq from questions about how we came to be involved in that war in the first place. It does not help any of us for such a wide remit to be set that it becomes impossible for the committee to report before the next general election. It is crucial that clarifying how we came to be involved in the war in the first place is the central issue under investigation. I find it absolutely incredible that the terms of reference should have been set so that the committee is to be precluded from either making recommendations or attributing blame. It is as though there were to be an inquiry into the great train robbery but no one could be found guilty of it, prosecuted or sent to prison. It is absolutely astonishing that the committee should be manacled in that way even before it starts.