Poison of Iraq

Only when the poison of Iraq is drawn can Labour hope to move on

4 July 2010 The silence over the war in the leadership battle is deafening. Yet the party won't be trusted until this toxic issue is addressed

Last Wednesday newly released documents revealed evidence that, in a less degraded political culture, would have produced a scandal. The Chilcot inquiry heard that the then attorney general, the government's chief legal adviser, explicitly warned Tony Blair that an invasion without further United Nations approval would be illegal.

"In view of your meeting with President Bush, I thought you might wish to know where I stand on the question of whether a further decision of the UN security council is legally required in order to authorise the use of force against Iraq. My view remains that a further [UN] decision is required," wrote Lord Goldsmith. As if further clarification were necessary, a handwritten note, assumed to be written by Blair's chief foreign policy adviser, David Manning, warned: "Clear advice from attorney on need for further resolution."

Unable to say he hadn't been told, Blair instead behaved as though English had just become a foreign language. "I just don't understand this," he wrote in the margins. The very next day he flew to Washington and told George Bush he was "solidly with the president" regardless of what the UN did. Put bluntly, it is irrefutable proof that the British prime minister was willing to flout international law.

A few hours after the document's release, across the Thames in a sweaty room in Lambeth, the Labour leadership contenders went through their paces. Each argued that under their guidance the next Labour government would listen so that it could learn, and inspire so that it could lead. Each paid homage to fairness, equality and empowerment while struggling to differentiate themselves. Continued