Clare Short tells Iraq inquiry Attorney General 'misled' Government over war

The Attorney General "misled" the Government over the case for going to war with Iraq, Clare Short told the inquiry into the conflict today.

Ms Short, who was international development secretary at the time, claimed Lord Goldsmith was "leaned on" by former Prime Minister Tony Blair to agree that the war was legal.

And she said it was not true – as claimed by Mr Blair and Lord Goldsmith in their testimony to the inquiry – that the Cabinet was given the chance to ask questions.

The Attorney General provisionally advised Mr Blair in January 2003 that it would be unlawful to invade Iraq without a further United Nations Security Council resolution, but he changed his mind a month later.

Ms Short said she had been surprised by Lord Goldsmith's advice that the was was legal, but she had accepted it.

However, she said the Cabinet would have had second thoughts if it had been aware of the detailed 13-page legal advice that Lord Goldsmith sent Mr Blair on March 7.

She said: "I think for the Attorney General to come and say there's unequivocal legal authority to go war was misleading."

The inquiry also heard that Ms Short warned Mr Blair weeks before the war began that the US was unprepared for running the country after the invasion.

She said the US body set up to rebuild post-invasion Iraq was "under-staffed, under-resourced and under-prepared for the scale of the challenge".

Ms Short was clapped by the audience in the inquiry chamber after she finished giving her testimony.