Jack Straw Fails
Jack Straw fails to restore trust
The pressure is still on the Government to publish the Attorney General's advice on the legality of the Iraq war, amid claims that Lord Goldsmith changed his mind under pressure from Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Senior Conservatives continued to press for the documentation to be released after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw failed to take the heat out of the issue with a Commons statement in which he denied that the law officer was "leant on" by Downing Street in the run up to the conflict two years ago.Responding to an emergency question tabled by Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve, Mr Straw said Lord Goldsmith decided that authority for the use of force in Iraq was contained within existing UN resolutions and that there was no need for another.
The only thing that changed in March 2003 was the failure to secure a coalition consensus for a second UN resolution, he said.But commenting on Mr Straw's statement, Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Ancram said: "Jack Straw's explanation of the change of mind defies belief. The reasons he gave certainly do not justify a change of legal opinion."
He declared: "The Foreign Secretary's performance has increased the lack of trust in the Government and done nothing to reassure people about the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister."Meanwhile, Mr Grieve described the whole episode as "corrosive" and told MPs: "It would be far better if the entire paper trail were to be published to reassure the public the Attorney General was neither leant on to change his views for party political reasons, nor deceived by the Prime Minister on the facts on which war might be justified."The row re-ignited after a former Government legal adviser, who quit in protest at what she regarded as an illegal war, suggested that Lord Goldsmith changed his mind twice before advising Tony Blair that existing UN resolutions justified going to war in Iraq.
Mr Grieve said a censored section of Elizabeth Wilmhurst's resignation letter, since leaked to the media, clearly showed that Lord Goldsmith had changed his mind. "What made him change his mind? What change of law or fact enabled him to alter his stance? What was said…to enable him to alter his position? Don't you realise how corrosive this entire episode now is to the trust in Government," Mr Grieve told the Foreign Secretary.
The pressure is still on the Government to publish the Attorney General's advice on the legality of the Iraq war, amid claims that Lord Goldsmith changed his mind under pressure from Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Senior Conservatives continued to press for the documentation to be released after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw failed to take the heat out of the issue with a Commons statement in which he denied that the law officer was "leant on" by Downing Street in the run up to the conflict two years ago.Responding to an emergency question tabled by Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve, Mr Straw said Lord Goldsmith decided that authority for the use of force in Iraq was contained within existing UN resolutions and that there was no need for another.
The only thing that changed in March 2003 was the failure to secure a coalition consensus for a second UN resolution, he said.But commenting on Mr Straw's statement, Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Ancram said: "Jack Straw's explanation of the change of mind defies belief. The reasons he gave certainly do not justify a change of legal opinion."
He declared: "The Foreign Secretary's performance has increased the lack of trust in the Government and done nothing to reassure people about the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister."Meanwhile, Mr Grieve described the whole episode as "corrosive" and told MPs: "It would be far better if the entire paper trail were to be published to reassure the public the Attorney General was neither leant on to change his views for party political reasons, nor deceived by the Prime Minister on the facts on which war might be justified."The row re-ignited after a former Government legal adviser, who quit in protest at what she regarded as an illegal war, suggested that Lord Goldsmith changed his mind twice before advising Tony Blair that existing UN resolutions justified going to war in Iraq.
Mr Grieve said a censored section of Elizabeth Wilmhurst's resignation letter, since leaked to the media, clearly showed that Lord Goldsmith had changed his mind. "What made him change his mind? What change of law or fact enabled him to alter his stance? What was said…to enable him to alter his position? Don't you realise how corrosive this entire episode now is to the trust in Government," Mr Grieve told the Foreign Secretary.
posted by Carolyn @ 8:41 PM
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