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Iraq Inquiry

I shall deal with that point directly. I assure the hon. Gentleman that he will get a response. In the time that I have available, I shall respond to as many of the points that have been made as possible. Let me start with those made by the shadow Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague). I listened seriously and intently to what he said. His speech was long on critique, but short on substantive differences with the Government on where we are today. He acknowledged that, since a week ago on Monday, the Government have consulted; he said that we had listened and that the outcome was what he had been calling for. If the accusation is that, as a Government, we have listened and moved, I plead guilty. I make no apology for saying that. I say that because the inquiry matters. It is crucial that we get it right. It was therefore right, in my view, that we listened to the views and concerns that were being expressed. I want to leave no Member in any doubt about whether we have listened. The right hon. Gentleman also stated his view on an interim report. Sir John Chilcot has made it clear that he does not rule that out, but, to quote what he said in his letter in response to the Prime Minister:""the causes and effects of particular phases of these events cannot simply be divided up so as to separate clearly one period from another."" Nevertheless, Chilcot is not ruling an interim report out, and nor are the Government. There is, however, a genuine difficulty that should be overcome.