Opponents gunning for Gordon Brown as he escapes Iraq grilling before election

Published on Wednesday 23 December 2009 21:41

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown and members of his Cabinet will not be called to give evidence to the Iraq inquiry until after the general election, it was announced yesterday.

• Gordon Brown was accused of being 'unwilling to step into the firing line' over Iraq. Picture: Getty Images

Opposition parties reacted angrily after it emerged that Sir John Chilcot's committee would wait until after polling day to quiz Mr Brown, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander.

Sir John, a retired Whitehall mandarin, has insisted that the investigation should "remain firmly outside party politics".

But Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said:

"This looks like a deal cooked up in Whitehall corridors to save Gordon Brown and his ministers from facing the music.

"British soldiers will not be impressed by a Prime Minister unwilling to step into the firing line."

The shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, said:

"Everyone will want to know whether this decision of the inquiry was influenced by ministers in any way.

"The public will rightly ask why it is that numerous officials have given evidence to the inquiry about their role in carrying out the government's policy on Iraq, but not a single minister has had to face questioning.

"Gordon Brown's efforts to delay the inquiry have been the very opposite of open and accountable government."

The SNP's defence spokesman, Angus Robertson, said that Mr Brown, as chancellor, had signed the cheques for the war, and it was "utterly ridiculous" that he would not be appearing until after the election.

The inquiry committee also revealed that Alastair Campbell had been summoned to appear.

Tony Blair's former chief spin doctor will give evidence next month or early in February, before the inquiry takes a break until after the election, which Mr Brown has to call by June at the latest.

Former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, the man whose advice on the legality of the 2003 invasion has been at the centre of controversy, will also give evidence in January or February.

Other major figures scheduled to appear in early 2010 include former prime minister Tony Blair and his chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, as well as a string of senior ministers and civil servants from that period.

Others due to appear in January or February include:

&149 former defence secretaries John Reid, Des Browne and Geoff Hoon;

&149 former foreign secretaries Jack Straw – now Justice Secretary – and Margaret Beckett;

&149 former Cabinet secretary Lord Turnbull and other top civil servants from the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury;

&#149 Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup.

A statement released yesterday by the Chilcot inquiry said that the committee's determination to stay outside party politics had resulted in evidence from serving ministers being delayed until after the election.

A spokesman for Downing Street said: "It is an independent inquiry and it is for the inquiry to determine who it calls to give evidence and when they are asked to appear."