Bullying Chilcot’s threat to Iraq war families
Take me to court over delay and you’ll pay the legal costs
SIR John Chilcot has threatened to force grieving military families to pay tens of thousands of pounds if they take him to court.
Relatives of dead soldiers say the chairman of the Iraq Inquiry has resorted to ‘ bully-boy tactics’ to frighten them into dropping their legal action to force him to publish his long-delayed report.
Desperate to learn the truth about why Tony Blair sent their loved ones to war in 2003, they want judges to order Sir John to fix a deadline.
Even though the inquiry has already taken six years and cost £10million, the retired civil servant refuses to name a date. Some claim the report might not be delivered until at least next June.
But in a provocative letter to families, Government lawyers acting on behalf of Sir John warn they would seek costs if the unprecedented High Court challenge is thrown out.
If the relatives lose, it is estimated the bill would be up to £30,000 – leaving each of the 29 families spearheading the legal battle with a £1,000 bill.
Families whose suffering is being dragged out by delays to the report say they are appalled by Sir John’s ‘despicable’ threat last week but defiantly refuse to roll over.
They insist legal papers will be submitted to the courts within days.
They also condemned the ‘appalling double standard’ that means witnesses who are facing criticism for their role in taking Britain to war, including politicians, military chiefs and civil servants, have access to taxpayer-funded lawyers for free.
Roger Bacon, whose son Matthew, 34, died in a roadside blast in Basra ten years ago, said: ‘The letter told us: “We invite you to reconsider your stated intention to launch proceedings. Should you nevertheless decide to proceed, we put you on notice that we will seek our costs of defending these proceedings”.
‘This is outrageous. We are told that John Chilcot is sympathetic to our concerns yet if we go to court he intends to hammer all the families that are part of the action. It is appalling to think the inquiry can treat bereaved parents in this way when our loved ones gave their lives.’
Reg Keys, whose 20-year- old son Thomas was murdered by an Iraqi mob in 2003, said: ‘ It is bully-boy tactics. We have got enough anxiety without people worrying about legal costs.
‘Chilcot is trying to frighten us off but he will not succeed. We will hold our nerve.’ Elsie Man- ning, 71, whose daughter Sharron Elliott was killed in action in 2006, said: ‘After all the promises Chilcot made – that the families were in his thoughts and he would do the right thing by us – to threaten this is absolutely disgusting.’
Tory MP David Davis said: ‘This is an entirely inappropriate response from the head of a public inquiry.’
Matthew Jury, of McCue and Partners solicitors, which is representing the relatives free of charge, said: ‘The families will be asking the court to rule on a matter of significant national interest and do so not just for themselves, and the loved ones they’ve lost, but for the British public. The country needs answers without any further undue delay.
‘This situation is contrary to all sense of reason, fairness or common sense.’
The families are expected to seek a court order to protect them from paying defence costs.
Last month the families gave Sir John, 76, a two-week ultimatum to set a date for releasing the report by the end of the year or they would go to court.
He refused so relatives will now apply for a judicial review on the grounds that failing to set a deadline for publishing the final report is ‘unlawful’.
Sir John has blamed the holdups on a process known as ‘Maxwellisation’, a convention allowing those criticised to respond before the report is delivered, to avoid unfairness.
He has denied that witnesses – including Mr Blair – had been given an open-ended timescale or were negotiating over his conclusions. Sir John says the responses have opened up lines of investigation with previously unseen documents.
He has also suggested that the Government and Whitehall were partly to blame for delays in obtaining classified documents.
Senior MPs have accused him of lacking a conscience for failing to end the families’ pain.
Gordon Brown started the inquiry in 2009, ending years of Labour resistance, and it finished taking formal evidence in 2011.
Comment – Page 18
‘Contrary to all common sense’ THE MAN WITH NO CONSCIENCE