BOTH BLAIR AND BROWN MUST GIVE EVIDENCE IN PUBLIC TO IRAQ INQUIRY

BOTH BLAIR AND BROWN MUST GIVE EVIDENCE IN PUBLIC TO IRAQ INQUIRY.

SNP VOICE SUPPORT FOR RELATIVES’ REQUEST

Commenting as the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war takes evidence in Edinburgh and as the relatives of those UK citizens and service personnel killed in Iraq ask to be present when Tony Blair appears before the inquiry into the conflict, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP voiced his support for the family members and said the current prime ministers should also give evidence in public.

The SNP led demands for an inquiry into the Iraq war, and secured the first substantive debate at Westminster in October 2006 – at that time the vote calling for an inquiry was narrowly lost by just 25 votes – with 12 Labour rebels.

Mr Robertson said:

“I welcome the fact that the inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot has given relatives of those killed in Iraq who live in Scotland the opportunity to meet him before he sets the direction for the inquiry.

“Sir John Chilcot already has a mountain to climb if he is to convince people that this an open and independent inquiry and not some establishment stitch-up with Downing Street pulling the strings.

“The whole point of an inquiry is to get to the truth about the Iraq war, and the conduct and conclusions of Sir John’s investigation must leave no doubt in peoples minds or questions unanswered.

“I therefore support the right of the relatives to be present during Tony Blair’s evidence and also believe that it is essential that both he and Gordon Brown give their evidence to this inquiry in public.

“By every measurement the Iraq war has been the biggest foreign policy disaster in modern times, and those responsible for it have never answered the most fundamental questions about why we were led into this war.

“The claim that the war was about weapons of mass destruction was a blatant lie, a mere cover story unsupported by the facts, and that issue alone must mean that evidence should be given in public by both the former and current PMs.”