Finally, Sir John Chilcot has announced when his inquiry into the Iraq war will arrive. He has written to the Prime Minister this morning to say the findings of his inquiry will be published in June or July next year. After years of increasing pressure from the public and government, Chilcot says the text will be finished the week commencing 18 April 2016 and the report will then be checked by national security staff. When it finally arrives, it is going to be a long read:
‘The very considerable size of our report – more than two million words in total — means it will take some weeks to prepare the report for printing and publication. For security reasons, I understand elements of that work cannot commence before the text is cleared for release to the publishers after the National Security checking process.
‘We will complete that work as swiftly as possible. I consider that once National Security checking has been completed it should be possible to agree with you a date for publication in June or July 2016.’
Between now and April, Chilcot says he will be finalising his conclusions on the Iraq war in the light of the ‘Maxwellisation’ process — i.e. putting criticisms to the individuals so they can respond to them. Many in Labour will be relieved that there is an end finally in sight for its legacy over Iraq, but nervous at the prospect of what it will say. If nothing else, it will provide Jeremy Corbyn with an opportunity to offer his apology for the war.
UPDATE: David Cameron is not happy at having to wait another eight months for the report. He has written back to Chilcot, offering extra assistance to help speed up the process:
”Whilst it is welcome of course that there is now a clear end in sight for your Inquiry, I am disappointed – and I know the families of those who served in Iraq will also be disappointed – that you do not believe it will be possible logistically to publish your report until early summer’.
I recognise that you have a significant task, but would welcome any further steps you can take to expedite the final stages of the Inquiry… as I have underlined previously, we remain ready to provide whatever further assistance we can in order to support the conclusion of your work, and I am very happy to provide more resource if it would allow the Report to be published more quickly.’
Full text of Sir John Chilcot’s Letter to David Cameron:
Dear Prime Minister,
I am pleased to say that I am now in a position to write setting out a timetable for the completion of the Iraq Inquiry’s report into the UK’s involvement in Iraq between 2001 and 2009. With your agreement, I should like to publish this letter on the Inquiry’s website on Thursday 29 October.
My colleagues and I estimate that we will be able to complete the text of our report in the week commencing 18 April 2016. At that point, National Security checking of its contents by a team of officials, who will be given confident access to the report on your behalf, can begin.
National Security checking is distinct from the process of declassifying material for disclosure in the Inquiry’s report. Its purpose is to ensure that the Government’s obligation under Article 2 of the ECHR and for the protection of National Security will not inadvertently be breached by publication of the Inquiry’s report as a whole. The inquiry will obviously seek to ensure no such breach might occur, but I entirely understand that a check checking process is necessary and is normal procedure in inquiries which have considered a large volume of sensitive material, as we have.
The very considerable size of our report — more than two million words in total — means that it will take some weeks to prepare for printing and publication For security reasons, I understand elements of that work cannot commence before the text is cleared for release to the publishers after the National Security checking process.
We will complete that work as swiftly as possible. I consider that once National Security checking has been completed it should be possible to agree with you a date for publication in June or July 2016.
Between today and the week of 18 April my colleagues and I will be finalising our findings, including in light of responses to the Maxwellisation process, and to bring that process to its final conclusion. We will continue to be reliant on the co-operation of the Civil Service as we do.
My colleagues and I remain committed to producing a report that will meet the very wide ranging terms of reference we were given and reflect the considerable investment of time and effort by all involved.
Yours sincerely,
Sir John Chilcot
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