Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Butler Inquiry and Clare Short.
Butler Inquiry
Asked for a reaction to the news that the Conservative Party had decided to withdraw from the Butler Inquiry, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the letter from the Leader of the Opposition to the Prime Minister informing him of his decision had only arrived while he had been on his way over to the briefing. Consequently, he was unable to give a detailed response at this stage. That said, he would draw journalists’ attention to the fact that the FAC, ISC and Lord Hutton had all dealt with claims that individuals had distorted the information contained in the dossier on WMD or had misled others over intelligence, clearing people of any such wrongdoing. After the Hutton report, we had said we hoped that other issues surrounding intelligence and any discrepancies between the intelligence before the war and what had transpired afterwards could be dealt with in a more rational way. That was why we had established the independent Butler Inquiry. It was up to Lord Butler and his inquiry team to decide how they should carry out their work. Asked if all this had been made clear to the Leader of the Opposition, the PMOS said that as we had told people at the time, the FAC, ISC and Lord Hutton had looked at claims that individuals had deliberately distorted intelligence material, and had concluded that there was no substance to them. We believed that the Butler Inquiry should look at the broader questions relating to intelligence in a more rational way.
Asked if the Opposition Leader had requested the words "use of intelligence" to be included in the Butler Inquiry’s remit because he had thought that it meant an examination of individual actions, the PMOS said that it wasn’t his job to comment on party political matters. He reminded journalists that the context had been set out in briefings we had done at the time. Pressed further about what the term "use of intelligence" meant, the PMOS said that part of the Inquiry’s remit was to "examine any discrepancies between the intelligence gathered, evaluated and used by the Government before the conflict, and between that intelligence and what has been discovered by the Iraq Survey Group since the end of the conflict" rather than investigate allegations that people had misled or discredited the information, which had already been looked at by the FAC, ISC and Lord Hutton.
Asked if there was a danger that the Butler Committee might now fall apart because, in the light of this afternoon’s announcement, it no longer had the requisite numbers, the PMOS said he wasn’t aware of any change to the Committee’s membership. The Inquiry would continue under the independent chairmanship of Lord Butler. Questioned as to whether the Inquiry would be able to continue to preserve its credibility, the PMOS repeated that the Committee was carrying out an independent inquiry, the remit of which was to look independently at the issue of intelligence. It continued to have a broad-based membership. Any changes were a matter for the members concerned, not him. Asked if the Prime Minister would rule out a further broader inquiry, as originally called for by opponents of the Iraq conflict because of the perception that the Butler Inquiry had lost its legitimacy, the PMOS repeated that the Butler Inquiry would continue. It was an independent Committee, with independent members. It was up to them to decide whether they wanted to take part in it or not. Asked if the Prime Minister wanted all the members to continue serving on the Committee, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister obviously the Inquiry team to be as broad-based as possible. Ultimately, however, it was for the members themselves to decide whether they wanted to participate. Asked to explain how the Inquiry could possibly survive when even the Government’s intention to model it on the Franks Committee was now impossible, the PMOS said that the Butler Inquiry’s remit was to "follow the procedures of the Franks Committee" not model itself on it. He repeated that it was entirely matter for others to decide whether they wanted to take part in it or not. We had set out the objectives and the Committee was continuing to carry out its work.
Asked for a reaction to the suggestion that the latest row about the Inquiry was due to the fact that the Government had rushed to follow the lead of the US and set up its own Inquiry, the PMOS said that it had been a number of weeks since we had announced that the Inquiry would be set up. Nothing had changed since then.
Clare Short
Asked if there had been any further developments today on the issue of Clare Short and the Cabinet Secretary, the PMOS said no.
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