Iraq Inquiry: PM urged to 'pull plug' on report

Lord Morris was among a number of peers to urge action over the report

The Iraq Inquiry should be wound up and Parliament should decide what to do next with its unfinished report, a former attorney general has said.

Lord Morris told peers the panel led by Sir John Chilcot seemed "incapable" of delivering its report into the 2003 conflict and should be discharged.

The prime minister has said he is "fast losing patience" with the time taken to complete the inquiry, begun in 2009.

But Sir John has said it would be unrealistic to set a deadline.

The inquiry is looking into the background to the UK's controversial participation in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, and its aftermath.

MPs and peers have become increasingly exasperated at continued delays to the report, with some arguing that the inquiry should be compelled to publish its findings now, even if they are incomplete.

'Long time'

Labour peer Lord Morris, who was attorney general between 1997 and 1999, said Parliament should take control of the process.

"Since Parliament is the ultimate guardian of the independence of any inquiry, and since this one seems incapable of reporting, should not the prime minister pull the plug, discharge the committee and on the basis of the evidence already gathered come to Parliament for its advice for the way forward?" he said.

In a short debate in the Lords, former Defence Secretary Lord King said the time taken meant the inquiry would not be able to fulfil its central purpose of advising on lessons learned in order to prevent similar mistakes happening in the future.

He told peers that time limits should be placed on future public inquiries.

Other peers, including Baroness Williams and Lord Trimble, also called for changes to the constitution of future inquiries. to give politicians more say over their timetable.

Independent

In his most recent update, Sir John said progress had been made but the "Maxwellisation" process - in which those likely to be criticised in the report are given a right to reply - had yet to be completed, as some unnamed individuals had yet to respond.

Sir John has acknowledged the frustrations of those waiting for the report, particularly the families of the 179 service personnel killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009, but said it would be counter-productive to give a firm date for its completion.

He has said he believes no-one is deliberately trying to delay the inquiry or limit what can be published.

Cabinet Office Minister Lord Bridges of Headley said he disagreed that the inquiry should be scrapped but noted that the Prime Minister, David Cameron, had impressed upon the panel the need for urgency in completing its work.

"The inquiry is independent of government and, most importantly of all, it has taken a long time to get this far, and it needs to be able to complete its work as quickly as possible so we can learn the lessons," he said.

"Removing them from office or stopping this now is not in the best interests of this work."