5 | Advice on the legal basis for military action, November 2002 to March 2003

850. Addressing Ms Short’s evidence that she had been “kind of jeered at”, Mr Straw

told the Inquiry:

“… that’s not my recollection. Obviously if that’s what she felt … but this was a very

serious Cabinet meeting. People weren’t, as I recall … going off with that kind of

behaviour. We all understood the gravity of the situation.”371

851. Asked if he recognised Ms Short’s description of events, Lord Boateng, who was

Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2002 to 2005, told the Inquiry that he did not.372

852. Ms Short sent a letter to colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party the following

morning, explaining her reasons for deciding to support the Government.373 She wrote

that there had been “a number of important developments over the last week”, including:

“Firstly, the Attorney General has made clear that military action would be legal

under international law. Other lawyers have expressed contrary opinions. But for

the UK Government, the Civil Service and the military, it is the view of the Attorney

General that matters and this is unequivocal.”

853. Asked at what point he had initiated the process of working out what he was going

to tell the Cabinet, and how much, Lord Goldsmith told the Inquiry:

“So far as Cabinet is concerned, I can’t remember at what stage I was told the

Cabinet was going to meet and I was going to be asked to come to Cabinet on that

occasion. I think it would have been the second occasion ever that I had attended

Cabinet.”374

854. Asked how it was decided that he would present the advice to Cabinet in the way

he did, and whether that decision was taken in discussion with Mr Blair or with Mr Straw,

Lord Goldsmith told the Inquiry that it was his decision:

“… the point for me was to determine how to express my view to Parliament, and the

Parliamentary answer then seemed to be a convenient way, as a framework really,

for what I would then say to Cabinet about my view on legality.”375

855. Asked if anyone asked him to restrict what he said to Cabinet, Lord Goldsmith

replied: “No.”376

856. Asked why, given the concerns of the Armed Forces and the Civil Service,

Cabinet had not taken the opportunity to discuss the finely balanced legal arguments,

371 Public hearing, 8 February 2010, page 61.

372 Public hearing, 14 July 2010, page 7.

373 Short C. An Honourable Deception: New Labour, Iraq and the Misuse of Power. The Free Press, 2004.

374 Public hearing, 27 January 2010, page 199.

375 Public hearing, 27 January 2010, page 200.

376 Public hearing, 27 January 2010, page 200.

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