Play it again, boys and girls. This from a report in today’s Times (£):
The official inquiry into the Iraq war has indicated that it intends to criticise Tony Blair for secretly plotting with George W. Bush for Britain to join the invasion [of Iraq].
Politicians, civil servants and military officers facing censure will be contacted within the next two weeks. Sir John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman, said that it had identified those who would be criticised for “some aspect of the part they played” in the invasion in 2003 and the seven-year occupation.
I don’t want to repeat myself on this, so I’ll limit the repetition to saying that Blair could not have given Bush anything more than a conditional undertaking over Iraq. Let’s just say, this time round, that if ‘secretly plotting’ is really how the Chilcot inquiry will find, then it has a strange conception of what a secret plot is, with one of these able to make its way through a democratically elected parliament. Had I a secret plot, I’d try to conduct it… more secretively (as one might say).