The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

may be taken against Iraq to enforce the terms of the UNSCR in the absence of

a further resolution of the Security Council”.294

722.  Ms Adams stated that there were two issues to consider:

• “Is the revival argument valid?”; and

• “Is resolution 1441 sufficient?”

A “conference” with Lord Goldsmith had been arranged for 1630 that afternoon.

723.  Lord Goldsmith met Lord Mayhew, the Conservative Attorney General from

1987 to 1992, late on the afternoon of 13 March.295

724.  Lord Goldsmith told the Inquiry that Lord Mayhew had asked for the meeting

because he had wanted, and been given, Lord Goldsmith’s view; and that in the

debate on the legality of the use of force in Iraq in the House of Lords on 17 March,

Lord Mayhew had professed himself in agreement with Lord Goldsmith’s view.296

725.  Lord Goldsmith’s meeting with Lord Mayhew was followed by one with Mr Straw,

which Mr Brummell also attended.297

726.  In what was described as a “lengthy meeting”, Lord Goldsmith was reported to

have said that “having decided to come down on one side (1441 is sufficient), he had

also decided that in public he needed to explain his case as strongly and unambiguously

as possible”.298 A legal team under Professor Greenwood was “now working” on that.

Mr Straw arranged for Mr Macleod and Mr Patrick Davies, one of his former Private

Secretaries, to join the team.

727.  Mr Straw’s request that the team should produce a draft letter explaining the legal

position for him to send to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) had

been agreed. Mr Straw’s Private Office also recorded that Lord Goldsmith had said

“he thought he might need to tell Cabinet when it met on 17 March that the legal issues

were finely balanced”.

728.  The record stated that Mr Straw had responded by saying that Lord Goldsmith:

“… needed to be aware of the problem of leaks from … Cabinet. It would be

better, surely, if the Attorney General distributed the draft letter from the Foreign

Secretary to the FAC as the basic standard text of his position and then made a few

comments. The Attorney General agreed.”

294 Letter Adams to Greenwood, 13 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Resolution 1441’.

295 Diary extract Attorney General, 13 March 2003.

296 Public hearing, 27 January 2011, page 197.

297 Diary extract Attorney General, 13 March 2003.

298 Minute McDonald, 17 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Meeting with the Attorney General’.

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