The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
589.
FCO, DFID and
MOD Ministers agreed in September 2004 to fund the
provision
of £2.5m of
military equipment for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) from the
GCPP.363
In a
letter to Mr Benn, Mr Straw stated that although the
purchase of the equipment
“only just”
met the published eligibility criteria for the supply of military
equipment from
the GCPP,
it was “of broader importance to HMG”.
590.
Section 12.1
describes Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s requests to Mr Blair
in
September
and October 2004 for increased support for the ISF.
591.
In response,
the MOD began to develop a proposal to provide US$107m
(£70m)
in
additional support to the ISF, including the provision of armoured
vehicles, transport
vehicles,
other equipment and weapons.364
The MOD’s
proposal would become Project
OSIRIS.
592.
A Treasury
official advised Mr Boateng’s Private Secretary on 12 October
that
following
Prime Minister Allawi’s requests, No.10 was pushing for resources
to be
allocated
“outside the traditional spending categories of the UK military
operation (MOD)
and
reconstruction (DFID)”.365
The
official continued:
“Partly in
light of tight spending controls within MOD centre, MOD theatre
and
FCO/DFID
have been using No.10 interest as an opportunity to try and
circumvent
MOD Finance
and HMT [Treasury] spending controls. They have managed to
get
some
political buy‑in to ideas which have not been properly costed,
scrutinised
or
prioritised.”
593.
The resulting
spending pressures were “significant, mounting and
have
critical
mass”. So far, the GCPP had filled the “growing gap”, providing
£22m of
its
£100m budget to fund such ad hoc priorities. However, with
much of the GCPP
contractually
committed, it could not absorb many more demands.
594.
As
Mr Boateng would not be able to attend the forthcoming meeting
of the Ad Hoc
Ministerial
Group on Iraq, the official recommended that he should write to
Ministers,
proposing
the creation of a ring‑fenced allocation for Iraq within the GCPP
for 2004/05.
That would
comprise £10m of new money from the Reserve, and up to £15m in
new
money to
match reprioritisation within the GCPP.
595.
The Ad Hoc
Ministerial Group on Iraq discussed the MOD proposal
on
14 October.366
Ministers
agreed that the proposal should, in principle, be funded,
and
that the
MOD should put a costed proposal to the Treasury “with a view to
achieving
swift
agreement”. Mr Straw and Mr Benn both commented that the
GCPP had neither
363
Letter
Straw to Secretary of State for International Development, 4
October 2004, ‘Global Conflict
Prevention
Pool – Iraq Strategy’.
364
Minute
Quarrey to Prime Minister, 1 October 2004,
‘Iraqi‑isation’.
365
Email
Treasury [junior official] to Treasury [junior official], 12
October 2004, ‘Iraq Spending Threats:
Letter from
CST to Hoon’.
366
Minutes, 14
October 2004, Ad Hoc Ministerial Group on Iraq
meeting.
542