Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Sunder Katwala of the Fabians announces that he has got Gordon Brown to agree to an inquiry about the Iraq war, writing to him that,
I agree with you that there is a need to learn all possible lessons from the military action in Iraq and its aftermath. This Government has already acknowledged that there will come a time when it is appropriate to hold an inquiry.
Sunder suggests that this may be a setback for David Miliband who implied that an inquiry is not necessary. But maybe "there will come a time" leaves Miliband in the clear, as Brown also says that the war needs to be over before any inquiry can begin.
While being intelligently sceptical about its likelihood don't underestimate the importance of this demand. It goes the heart of what happened to New Labour under Blair and Brown. Any inquiry needs to start with Blair's commitment to back Bush in all circumstances, or, in the words of his instruction to the British Ambassador in Washington: "To get up the arse of the White House and stay there" Any real inquiry would expose the extraordinary weakness of the British system, lamed by the overweening power of the Prime Minister, trapped by the post 1940 grip of Churchillism. It was not a technical judgement about weapons of mass destruction - that was about the manipulation of opinion and a disgrace. But it was not the cause.
Behind Brown's clever agreement to an inquiry there is a partisan issue. As the possibility of an Obama candidacy looms, we face the possibility that the only country left with a government in support of the Iraq invasion decision will be Britain (whether with a Labour or a Tory government). But the prospect will also favour young, smart men of the world with an academic parent. The best way to ensure that Miliband does not qualify is to ensure his disasterous defence of the war remains pinned to him. Only recently David Miliband said after Brown's major foreign policy overview that distanced him from Blair's Washington policy,
Pressed on whether Mr Brown's "hard-headed internationalism" approach would have made a difference to the invasion of Iraq, Mr Miliband said: "We don't resile from the decisions that were made in respect of the Iraq war."
However, he added: "Over the last five years there have been decisions about the way in which political reform, economic stabilisation and the security has been taken forward, could have been done better.
"But no-one is resiling from the original decision."
