Mike Hancock News
MP challenges Prime Minister to hold Iraq Inquiry in public
In questions in the House of Commons yesterday following the Prime Minister's statement on holding an inquiry on Iraq, Portsmouth South MP and member of the Defence Select Committee, Mike Hancock challenged the Prime Minister for it to be held in public. Mike also asked the Prime Minister for any taped telephone conversations between Tony Blair and George Bush to be made available to the inquiry. The MP said that the important thing was not what the Prime Minister wanted to hear from the inquiry but that the British Public wanted to hear what happened in their name. The Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg along with other MPs including from the Labour benches also demanded that the inquiry was held in public but their demands were firmly rejected by the Prime Minister
Speaking afterwards, Mike Hancock said: "the Prime Minister said that he and his Government would now be open and transparent. The answers he gave to me, Nick Clegg and other MPs show that he has failed in this at the first hurdle. Of course there may be issues that have to be kept private in order not to compromise National Security. But on the Defence Select Committee, we are often investigating issues that have a direct bearing on the day to day operations of our armed forces. In the great majority of cases, we are able to hold those inquiries in public and it is important both for those serving in the forces and the wider public that we do. If there were security issues then of course that evidence should be taken in private but in general there should be a presumption in favour of openness. There are a vast number of issues concerning the Iraq War, the build-up to it and its aftermath, and the British public wants to know the answers and make up their minds from the evidence presented and not for everything to be hidden behind close doors once again. It is also disappointing that this inquiry will take so long and will not report until after the General Election. All in all, the widespread suspicion is that all this is about the Prime Minister kicking issue into the long grass. And that is a great shame."
Notes: The exchange between Mike Hancock and the Prime Minister can be read at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090615/debtext/90615-0006.htm#0906157000438
and was as follows:
Mr. Mike Hancock (Portsmouth, South) (LD): In the Prime Minister's answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg), he suggested that having this inquiry in secret would mean that he, or we, would get the answers that we required. Does he not understand that it is the British people who require these answers, and that what they require is the truth of what led up to this war? Will he ensure that, if possible, any of the taped conversations between the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the then President of the United States are made available to the inquiry? Will he also ensure that all the recorded telephone calls between the then Prime Minister and President Bush over that period are made available? Can I ask him again not to think about what he wants to hear from the inquiry but to consider what the British people want to hear? What they do not want to hear is that the inquiry is being held in secret. Everyone can accept that part of the inquiry would, for security reasons, necessarily have to address that fact, but most of it-
Mr. Speaker: Order.
The Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman asks that the inquiry deal with issues surrounding the run-up to the conflict. That is exactly what the inquiry is going to do-it is going to start in 2001. He wants to be sure that it will look at the issues surrounding the decision that was made to go into conflict. That is what the inquiry will do-it will look at all those issues. The disagreement between him and us is about whether we have a Franks-style inquiry, which both the main parties have asked for, or a fully public inquiry. I have given him the reasons why a fully public inquiry does not seem to me to be appropriate when we are dealing with issues of national security and issues affecting the military.
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