MoD CALLED FOR UN BACKING FOR IRAQ INVASION

MoD CALLED FOR UN BACKING FOR IRAQ INVASION

‘BROWN CANNOT AVOID GIVING EVIDENCE BEFORE ELECTION’

SNP Westminster Leader and Defence Spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, has seized on a declassified MoD document submitted to the Chilcot Inquiry, which reveals the MoD was insistent on UN backing for the 2003 Iraq Invasion.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull dated 5^th March 2003, Sir Kevin Tebbit, the Permanent Secretary at the MoD, said that "full UN cover is devoutly to be desired".

Giving evidence to the Inquiry, Lord Turnbull added that it was not just the MoD that required the backing of the UN, but that all of Whitehall required this agreement before spending associated with the invasion could commence.

Considering this spending agreement, Mr Robertson said that as Labour’s case for going to war in Iraq was yet further discredited and the need for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to give evidence was becoming all the more urgent.

Commenting, Mr Robertson said:

“With each evidence session, the men who took us into the worst foreign policy disaster in modern times – Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – are implicated more and more. It is becoming increasingly clear why Labour Minister fought so hard to force the inquiry behind closed doors.

“As Lord Turnbull’s evidence points to the importance of how the invasion was financed, the case for calling Gordon Brown for questioning before the General Election is now overwhelming.

“Tony Blair may have led us into an illegal war based on a dubious claim about weapons of mass destruction but it was Gordon Brown who bankrolled it and today's evidence shows that he was a key player in that decision.

“Before the public goes to the polls this year they must have the chance to see and hear Gordon Brown’s version of events.

“It is utterly ridiculous that the current Prime Minister will not be held to account before the election for his actions around the war in Iraq.

“If Labour are confident that they were right and the public were wrong over Iraq then Labour Ministers should bring forward their evidence and face up to the charges they face over this illegal conflict."