Gavin Stamp
BBC political reporter

Image source, AP

It lasted three days, brought together some of the country's most eminent legal minds and, in the words of one, considered an issue of "fundamental constitutional importance" to the government, Parliament and the UK as a whole.

Bearing all of this in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that the 582-page transcript, external of the High Court hearing into Brexit, which concluded on Tuesday, make fascinating as well as, at times, gruelling reading.

At stake is the question of whether the government is within its rights to begin the process of leaving the EU - by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - without the consent and authorisation of Parliament.

During the application for judicial review of the government's intended use of prerogative powers to kickstart Brexit, the 23 lawyers on either side of the argument covered a huge amount of ground.

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The Scottish cross-bench peer - Lord Kerr - who wrote the Article 50 clause which the UK would use to end its EU membership says leaving is not inevitable.

Here is some footage from a busy day's politics at Westminster:

UKIP assembly group leader Neil Hamilton says he had no role in the appointment of his wife Christine as his personal assistant

• The prime minister branded Fifa's stance against players wearing poppies "outrageous" at PMQs
• Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny has claimed Theresa May could trigger Article 50 "within weeks."
• Sir John Chilcot of the inquiry into the Iraq war has told MPs former prime minister Tony Blair damaged trust in politics.
• UKIP donor Arron Banks threatened to stop funding the party unless it dealt with internal "factions"

Image source, HoC

Tracy Brabin rounded off her maiden speech to the commons with a tribute to West Yorkshire police, who responded to the death of her predecessor Jo Cox. 

Ms Brabin said: "Batley and Spen will not be defined by the one person who took from us, but by the many who give."

House of Commons
Parliament

Tracy Brabin, the new Labour member for Batley and Spen, is making her maiden speech

She says she's been elected to the House in the "darkest of circumstances through the loss of my friend and inspiration Jo Cox". 

The former MP Jo Cox was killed in her constituency in June.

Her byelection victory came against a number of far-right and fringe parties, after the main UK parties withdrew. 

Ms Brabin says she wants to "stand tall against those who seek to divide our community" and quotes from Jo Cox's maiden speech, made just last year, where she said that people in her constituency are "far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us".

Select Committee
Parliament

The questioning comes to an end and Chair Andrew Tyrie thanks Sir John for answering questions.

He also thanks him "on behalf of Parliament" for having done "such a thorough job" with the inquiry.

And there the committee is adjourned.

Select Committee
Parliament

Winding up the session, committee chairman Andrew Tyrie pressed Sir John on whether it had been reckless for the UK to go to war against Iraq when it had information about what the aftermath could be.

Sir John replied: "Would President Bush have gone ahead anyway?

"If there was going to be an American invasion ... would it have been reckless to associate the UK with it knowing there were risks ... in the belief that somehow or other American scale or resources would overcome these problems?"

Select Committee
Parliament

Chair Andrew Tyrie is questioning Sir John on who should bear responsibility for the failures of the mission.

Sir John believes that the failure of the security sector was "one of the very worst aspects" of the venture.

He argues that if better security could have been put in place in the south-east of Iraq then "the whole process of reconstruction might have had a chance".

Tony Blair was advised about the associated risk of instability and collapse of Iraq before the decision to invade, Sir John Chilcot has said.

He claimed Britain's ambassador in Cairo had reported the Egyptian president's warning that Iraq was populated by people capable of killing each other.

He said Mr Blair had claimed "it would've taken hindsight to have been aware of these risks", but Sir John insisted: "We say it was clear and he'd got the advice."

Describing the war as appalling and tragic, Sir John said: "What was foreseeable and advised did indeed happen and arguably could have been avoided."

UK intelligence, diplomatic and other communities had "a great deal of deep knowledge about the Iraq population" and its stresses, strains and history but that was not brought to bear on the decision making process.

"What is clear... is that this risk and other associated risk of instability and collapse were clearly identified and available to ministers and Mr Blair before the invasion."

He added: "You will have to look inside Mr Blair's mind and heart about what he felt at the time."

Select Committee
Parliament

Dr Lewis now asks if the procurement of protective equipment against IEDs (improvised explosive devices) was delayed as a result of the prime minister wishing to keep private his early decision to go to war.

"I don't believe the two things can't be put together," replies Sir John.

He expands on his answer to say that there is a criticism to be made that preparations for equipment were held up in order to avoid the sense that military activity was inevitable.

However he doesn't believe this had a direct impact "on the IED question".

House of Lords
Parliament

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams says the government "would like to give further consideration" to the arguments as they apply to people questioned under caution but not charged.

Fellow Conservative Lord Marlesford says he is "happy to leave it her to come back to us" and withdraws the amendment.

By convention, amendments are rarely pushed to a vote at committee stage in the Lords and are introduced to provoke debate and ask for a government response.

However, peers may introduce similar amendments at later stages and put them to a vote if they are not satisfied with ministers' reassurances.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Julian Lewis asks what Tony Blair can be blamed for and "from what he should be absolved".

Sir John replies that he can be absolved from a "personal decision to deceive".

He does criticise the former prime minister for failing to share a "crucial judgement" and taking a part in an "advocacy exercise".

Dr Lewis asks who should have stood up to Tony Blair.

Sir John says the Cabinet did not insist on an opportunity to challenge the decision - "that is a failing". 

Select Committee
Parliament

Sir John Chilcot says he does not believe Saddam Hussein passed on his weapons of mass destruction to someone else.

Instead he believes the "undocumented dispatch of materials and destruction of materials took place on a considerable scale after the first Gulf war and after the inspectors got in", he said.

Select Committee
Parliament

Tony Blair exercised his "considerable powers of advocacy and persuasion" rather than sharing crucial judgement over his decision to go to war with Iraq, Sir John Chilcot has said.

He claimed Cabinet ministers were given promises by him that they would have the opportunity to consider and reflect and therefore decide on a number of big decisions - but they did not get that opportunity.

Asked who else, other than Mr Blair, was to blame, Sir John said Jack Straw also had a great deal of seniority.

Pressed to say what he thought was the biggest mistake made over the Iraq War, he replied: "It was a failure to exert and exercise sufficient collective responsibility for a very big decision and then to scrutinise and supervise its conduct and implementation."

Carole Walker
Political correspondent

Asked if the prime minister believes police are doing enough to prosecute drivers using mobile phones, a Downing Street spokesman said the government had been very clear that it was “totally unacceptable for anyone to use a mobile phone while driving”.

He said the Ministry of Justice was launching a consultation before the end of the year on dangerous driving offences.

Pressed on whether police should be doing more, he said it was an “issue for police and for crime commissioners to allocate resources and deploy them in the most effective way to keep the roads safe”. 

He said the police have a range of options available and it is up to them how to use them.

Earlier this week lorry driver Tomasz Kroker was jailed for killing a mother and her three children while distracted by his phone. 

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative peer Lord Marlesford tables an amendment on "lack of evidence to charge". He proposes this form of words instead of "insufficient evidence", when a person is released without charge.

The present form of words suggests there is "no smoke without fire", he argues.

He gets support from crossbencher Baroness Boothroyd, who shares concerns over public figures who have been suspected of crimes. When released without charge, "they have been harassed by the police, they very often have been pilloried by the press", she says.

"There's a serious risk of agreement breaking out," says Lib Dem Lord Campbell, also backing the amendment.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Laurence Robertson tells Sir John that at the time of the build up to the Iraq War he had visited Rwanda.

He describes the feeling of shame he felt that the UK had done nothing to prevent the genocide there.

He asks if the inquiry considered the invasion from "a humanitarian point of view".

Sir John replies that although Saddam Hussein's regime was "barbaric" this did not amount to sufficient grounds for the invasion of a sovereign country.