Chilcot Report Edges Closer Amid Icy Exchanges
Updated: 4:49pm UK, Thursday 29 May 2014
By Adam Boulton, Political Editor
At last, 11 years after British and American forces invaded Iraq and five years after Sir John Chilcot began his official inquiry into Britain's role in the war, it seems that the report could soon be published – perhaps even before the 2015 General Election, as David Cameron has demanded.
The report has been delayed by a stand-off between the inquiry team and two successive Cabinet Secretaries, Sir Gus (now Lord) O'Donnell and Sir Jeremy Heywood, who blocked publication of conversations and private notes between Tony Blair and then US President George W Bush on confidentiality grounds.
They also opposed publication of Cabinet minutes and other official records.
Tony Blair has repeatedly denied that he was the cause of the hold-up. Both O'Donnell and Heywood worked closely with his government.
Now an icily choreographed public exchange between Chilcot and the Cabinet Office confirms that the logjam has been broken.
Chilcot had been embarrassing the government deliberately by refusing to go ahead with one of the final legal steps required before publication of an official report - so-called "Maxwellisation".
Named after a 1969 court victory by the late disgraced business tycoon Robert Maxwell, this process requires that those criticised in the report are sent drafts of the relevant sections for comment prior to publication.
The inquiry is not required to take on board what they say.
The inquiry argued that their report would be incomplete unless they could refer to cabinet minutes and details of the Blair Bush relationship.
They argued that Blair and other members of his team had already negated the high expectation of confidentiality traditionally granted to a Prime Minister in their own published memoirs.
In essence, publication of the details of these exchanges should allow the public to decide whether Tony Blair committed Britain to war at an early stage come what may.
Documents will still not be published in full. But the Cabinet Secretary agreed earlier this year that the inquiry can give details from over 200 Cabinet level meetings, including quoting extracts of the minutes.
Yesterday the two sides also agreed that they will now negotiate on what "gists and quotes" they can include from 25 notes from Blair to Bush and more than 130 records of conversations between the two leaders.
Direct quotation will be "the minimum necessary" but the public announcement of a deal suggests that the government side has given ground decisively.
Unless there is exceptional foot dragging during the negotiations, they should be concluded in a matter of weeks. The inquiry team has already completed its draft and specified what it would like to quote.
Maxwellisation is a private matter between the inquiry and its subjects but on past form it should take no longer than three months.
After that Sir John says he will submit the finished report to the Prime Minister, "as soon as possible".
It will then be up to David Cameron to decide when we get to see the Iraq Inquiry report.
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