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

878. Mr Blair told the Inquiry that, in respect of Lord Goldsmith’s legal opinion:

“… the key thing really was … Cabinet weren’t interested in becoming part of the

legal debate, they just wanted to know, ‘Is the Attorney General saying it is lawful

or not?’”397

879. Mr Blair stated that the legal issues were “one aspect” of the Cabinet discussion,

but Cabinet was “really focused on the politics”.398

880. Asked whether Cabinet should have weighed up the legal risk, Mr Blair replied:

“I think they were weighing the risks up for the country, but … in respect of the law

… I don’t think members of the Cabinet wanted to have a debate … Peter was there

and could have answered any questions they had, but their basic question to him

was: is there a proper legal basis for this or not and his answer was, ‘Yes.’

“… the reason why we had Peter there … he was the lawyer there to talk about it.”399

881. In a letter written to Lord Goldsmith in March 2005, Ms Short stated that the way

the legal advice had been presented to Cabinet was a breach of the Ministerial Code.400

882. In 2003, the relevant provision of the Ministerial Code stated:

“When advice from the Law Officers is included in correspondence between

Ministers, or in papers for the Cabinet or Ministerial Committees, the conclusions

may if necessary be summarised but, if this is done, the complete text of the advice

should be attached.”401

883. Lord Goldsmith told the Inquiry:

“… the Ministerial Code, which talks about providing the full text of the Attorney

General’s opinion, is actually dealing with a quite different circumstance. That’s

dealing with the circumstance where a Minister comes to Cabinet and says ‘I have

got clearance from the Attorney General. He says this is all right, or she says this

is all right’. In those circumstances, the Ministerial Code requires that the full text

should be there rather than just the summary. You can summarise it but you need

to produce the full text as well.

397 Public hearing 21, January 2011, page 232.

398 Public hearing 21, January 2011, page 233.

399 Public hearing 21, January 2011, page 234.

400 Letter Short to Goldsmith, March 2005. Previously available on the website of Clare Short MP and

referred to the public hearing of Clare Short, 2 February 2010, at page 41, and discussed during the

Select Committee on Public Administration, 10 March 2005, Q240 et sequitur.

401 Cabinet Office. Ministerial Code: A code of conduct and guidance on procedures for Ministers, 2001.

159