LibDems gunning for Straw
by Chris Ames
With Jack Straw at the Inquiry tomorrow, the Guardian reports that the Liberal Democrats have accused him of misleading parliament and breaching the ministerial code over his handling of the legal advice about the war in 2003.
Since Straw’s previous testimony, the Iraq inquiry has heard that a week before the invasion, on 13 March 2003, the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, told Straw, then foreign secretary, that he might need to tell the cabinet the legal issues were “finely balanced”. Goldsmith was advised by Straw not to do so, warning of “the problem of leaks from the cabinet”. The inquiry has heard that the cabinet was never told of Goldsmith’s concerns.
The Lib Dems have outlined a three-point charge sheet against Straw, claiming that he:
• Knowingly misled parliament on the legality of the war. On 17 March, a day before MPs voted to authorise British involvement in the war, Straw told them: “There is no question about the legality of the action that we propose to take.” The inquiry has heard that the two most senior Foreign Office legal advisers, Sir Michael Wood and his deputy, Elizabeth Wilmhurst, believed the war was illegal.
• Breached the ministerial code by preventing the cabinet from seeing Goldsmith’s full legal advice. At paragraph 2.12 the code says: “When advice from the law officers is included in correspondence between ministers, or in papers for the cabinet or ministerial committees, the conclusions may if necessary be summarised but, if this is done, the complete text of the advice should be attached.”
• Abused his powers and failed to declare a confict of interest when he vetoed a freedom of information request to release the minutes of the cabinet discussion about Iraq on 17 March 2003. The Lib Dems believe Straw gave a misleading account when, as justice secretary, he vetoed the FoI request last year. He described the cabinet as “the forum in which debates on the issues of greatest significance and complexity are conducted”.