Iraq inquiry report delay angers British lawmakers
British MPs have expressed their anger at the Iraq inquiry report delay, with the prime minister writing to the inquiry head Sir John Chilcot expressing his impatience.
The Chilcot inquiry was set up in over six years ago by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The inquiry was initially set up as a private one, but due to the hostilities in the House of Commons, it was made public. The inquiry is meant to investigate Britain’s role in the Iraq war.
The government released a letter from Chilcot, which outlined his reasons for the delay and his refusal to give a specific timetable. It said, “It is now essential that all remaining responses are received so that the process can be completed. I and my colleagues understand your concern that it has not been possible to publish our conclusions before now. I am sure you will also share my desire to ensure that those conclusions – covering a period of nine years – hold firm once published.”
Chancellor George Osborne was pressurized to come up with answers during his first Prime Minister’s Questions at the dispatch box. He was pressed by leader of the SNP MPs at Westminster, Angus Robertson, who pointed out that both he and the prime minister backed the war in Iraq.
But Osborne replied that the “Chilcot inquiry is of course completely independent of government and we do not determine when it publishes its conclusions…but where I agree with you is this – it has been a long time coming and people I think are running out of patience, they want to see that report.”
The Chilcot Inquiry has taken over six years to come to a conclusion. The public are growing in anger and MPs are becoming more impatient. The inquiry is an independent inquiry and is therefore not subject to political pressure. But the feeling around Westminster is that if Chilcot takes much longer in publishing his findings, then impatience will quickly turn to anger.
LM/SKL
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