The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

“That was a Treasury response, and we only got any extra money from the Treasury,

I think, after the invasion had started. So how you can plan an exemplary role when

it is that late …”203

347. The Inquiry concludes that the Treasury letter referred to by Ms Short was

Mr Bowman’s letter of 14 March to No.10.

348. Sir Suma told the Inquiry:

“We [DFID] were very concerned about the resource position. This was one of the

biggest constraints on planning because we didn’t know what our financial envelope

would be in the end. We first raised the resource issues with the Treasury at official

level in December 2002 and then it was raised in various letters from Clare Short to

the Prime Minister.”204

349. Mr Brown rejected those criticisms. He told the Inquiry that the Treasury’s concern

had been to ensure that DFID used its Contingency Reserve before it secured additional

funding from the Reserve.205

350. The UN launched a ‘Flash Appeal’ for Iraq on 28 March, seeking US$2.22bn to

provide six months of food and non‑food aid for Iraq.206

351. DFID committed £65m to support the UN Flash Appeal on 1 April.207

352. The UN reported in June 2003, in the context of launching its revised humanitarian

appeal for Iraq, that almost US$2bn of the requested US$2.22bn had been made

available to UN agencies since the launch of the Flash Appeal.208 That comprised

US$1.1bn in resources available within the OFF programme and US$870m in donor

contributions and pledges. The major donors were:

• the US (who had provided US$483m, some 56 percent of total donor

contributions);

• the UK (US$108m – 12 percent); and

• Japan (US$87m – 10 percent).

203 Public hearing, 2 February 2010, page 70.

204 Public hearing, 8 December 2009, pages 27‑28, 30.

205 Public hearing, 5 March 2010, pages 97‑98.

206 United Nations, Flash Appeal for the humanitarian requirements of the Iraq crisis: six‑month response,

28 March 2003.

207 Report DFID, 1 April 2003, ‘Iraq humanitarian situation update No.8 (Internal)’.

208 United Nations, Humanitarian Appeal for Iraq: Revised Inter‑Agency Appeal 1 April – 31 December

2003, June 2003.

500