New year date for Blair’s Iraq inquiry evidence
By politics.co.uk staff
Tony Blair could give evidence to the Iraq war inquiry as early as January, it has been announced.
The former prime minister and other government ministers will appear before his committee in January or early February.
Initial evidence sessions will begin on November 24th. The first five weeks of public evidence sessions will involve senior officials and military personnel.
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“We will ask them to explain the main decisions and tasks, and their involvement,” committee chairman Sir John Chilcot said in a statement released last night.
“That will give us a clear understanding of how policy developed and was implemented, and what consideration was given to alternative approaches.”
The timing of the evidence sessions could prove damaging for Labour ahead of the election, with details of the controversial war waged during Mr Blair’s time in office once again being debated over in public.
The final report into the war is not expected to be published until the end of next year, or potentially even 2011.
