7 |
Conclusions: Pre-conflict strategy and planning
424.
There was no
substantive discussion of the military options, despite
promises
by Mr Blair,
before the meeting on 17 March.
425.
In his
statement for the Inquiry, Mr Hoon wrote that by the time he
joined Cabinet,
in
1999:
“… the
pattern of the organisation and format of Cabinet meetings was …
well
established.
Tony Blair was well known to be extremely concerned about
leaks
from
Cabinet discussions … It was my perception that, largely as a
consequence
of this,
he did not normally expect key decisions to be made in the course
of Cabinet
meetings.
Papers were submitted to the Cabinet Office, and in turn by the
Cabinet
Office to
appropriate Cabinet Committees for decisions.”195
“At no time
when I was serving in the Ministry of Defence were other
Cabinet
Ministers
involved in discussions about the deployment of specific forces
and
the nature
of their operations. Relevant details would have been circulated
to
10 Downing
Street or other Government departments as necessary … I do
not
recall a
single Cabinet level discussion of specific troop deployments and
the nature
427.
The Inquiry
recognises that there will be operational constraints on
discussion
of the
details of military deployments, but that would not preclude the
discussion of
the principles
and the implications of military options.
428.
In January
2006, the Cabinet discussed the proposal to deploy military
forces
to Helmand
later that year.
429.
The Inquiry
also recognises that the nature of foreign policy, as the Report
vividly
demonstrates,
requires the Prime Minister of the UK, the Foreign Secretary and
their
most senior
officials to be involved in negotiating and agreeing policy on a
day-by-day,
and
sometimes hour-by-hour basis.
430.
It would
neither be necessary nor feasible to seek a mandate from Cabinet
at
each stage
of a discussion. That reinforces the importance of ensuring Cabinet
is kept
informed as
strategy evolves, is given the opportunity to raise questions and
is asked to
endorse key
decisions. Cabinet Ministers need more information than will be
available
from the
media, especially on sensitive issues of foreign and security
policy.
431.
In 2009, three
former Cabinet Secretaries197
told the House
of Lords Select
Committee
on the Constitution:
195
Statement,
2 April 2015, page 1.
196
Statement,
2 April 2015, page 2.
197
Lord
Armstrong of Ilminster, Lord Butler of Brockwell and Lord Wilson of
Dinton.
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