Chilcot Inquiry

Iraq has fallen off the radar of most voters - perhaps wrongly, but that's a short term electorate for you - so the Chilcot Inquiry is probably seen by many as an irrelevant working over of old history. It is nothing of the sort. As an insight into how government worked at the time of Tony Blair, and more importantly, how and why a democratic government felt able to commit its people and its soldiers to a war against an enemy who posed no immediate threat to our security, it is of immense significance. High profile witnesses have been producing some interesting statements, and anyone interested in politics should be following the Inquiry's progress. The BBC offers a day by day summary here.

Meanwhile, today's news is that Gordon Brown, who was expected to be able to wait until after a general election, will be giving evidence to the Inquiry before the next election after all. It's his offer. The First Post's Mole speculates that this is because Brown knows he has nothing to hide, but others may wonder whether the man whose role at the time of the war is the most ambiguous of all really is well advised to air his dirty washing in public so near to the public's own electoral verdict being delivered on him.