Pull plug on Chilcot Inquiry, says former Labour attorney-general

DAVID Cameron should “pull the plug” on the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war and give parliament a vote to force a timetable for the long-delayed report’s publication, Tony Blair’s former attorney-general has said.

Lord Morris of Aberavon, who was the former prime minister’s chief legal adviser from 1997 until 1999, said the families of soldiers killed in the conflict had been done a gross disservice by the delays.

Much of the anger over the delay is focused on the so-called “Maxwellisation” process, which gives the opportunity to individuals facing possible criticism in the report to respond.

The delay in publication has been a growing source of frustration for Prime Minister David Cameron, who has demanded a timetable for publication be set out “pretty soon”.

Sir John Chilcot insisted last month that his inquiry – launched in 2009 – was making “significant progress”, although he could not set a date of the publication of his findings.

Lord Morris said the PM should order Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to report to parliament on the progress of the inquiry before MPS and peers are given a vote on a timetable for publication.

He said: “My sympathy is entirely with the families. They want closure, and instead they have suffered deplorable delays. It is a disgrace.

“It has done a gross disservice to the families that they have had to wait such a long time after the conclusion of the evidence sessions.”

Lord Dannatt, chief of the general staff during part of the Iraq war, suggested Mr Cameron could apply a “guillotine” to the Maxwellisation process.

He said: “Sir John Chilcot himself has either got to impose a guillotine … or someone like the Prime Minister has got to put pressure on him to do that himself. But I’m not sure how legitimate it is for the Prime Minister to do that.”