The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

1017. Mr Macleod wrote:

“On some key points, Sir Jeremy [Greenstock] had a crucial input, and I was

involved in the drafting and discussion of proposals within the mission.”

1018. Asked about the process of providing advice to Sir Jeremy, Mr Macleod told the

Inquiry that it was “fairly informal”:

“… Jeremy knew the issue very, very well. He understood that the legal parameters

in which 1441 was being negotiated were very well‑established, at least as far as we

were concerned, because he had been responsible for negotiating resolution 1205

and he had probably been involved in the earlier ones too. So the framework we

were operating in was very clear and pretty well understood by all of us, and I don’t

recall really any occasion when we had to sit down and have a head‑to‑head about

any legal issue.”380

1019. Within the FCO, Mr Pattison was responsible for the formulation of policy on

Security Council resolutions, and provided instructions to the UK Mission in New York.381

1020. Mr Pattison wrote that the key tactical decisions were taken at twice‑daily

meetings chaired by Mr Ricketts which agreed instructions for UKMIS New York on how

to handle negotiations on the text of resolution 1441.382

1021. Mr Pattison told the Inquiry that instructions were sent in the form of a telegram,

known as an e‑gram, and were complemented by daily telephone conversations

between Mr Ricketts and Sir Jeremy Greenstock, and by correspondence with other

members of UKMIS New York.383

1022. Mr Pattison circulated a draft of the instructions around the ‘core group’, which

included Mr Chaplin, Mr Charles Gray, Head of the FCO Middle East Department,

representatives of the FCO Non‑Proliferation Department (headed by Mr Tim Dowse)

and FCO Legal Advisers, before sending them to New York.

1023. Telegrams sent by the FCO in London to the UK Mission in New York during the

negotiation of resolution 1441, were in accordance with usual practice, signed “Straw”

but would have been compiled by the process Mr Pattison described. Some report the

Foreign Secretary’s own involvement in discussions on the draft resolution with his US

and French counterparts. Others contain detailed instructions to New York for discussion

in the Security Council.

380 Public hearing, 30 June 2010, pages 8‑9.

381 Statement, January 2011, paragraphs 27 and 29.

382 Statement, January 2011, paragraph 27.

383 Public hearing, 31 January 2011, pages 22‑23.

378