David Cameron has written to Sir John Chilcot warning he is “fast losing patience” with the Iraq inquiry, amid reports the report might not appear for yet another year.
The inquiry has now been running for six years, but Chilcot told the prime minister in a letter that responses submitted by individuals and organisations who have been criticised have “opened up new issues”, while others have yet to reply.
Following reports of further delays, the government released a letter from Chilcot making clear that he could not yet give a timetable for publication.
“It is now essential that all remaining responses are received so that the process can be completed,” the letter from Chilcot said. “Only when all responses are in our possession and have been evaluated will I be able to write to you with a realistic timetable for completion.”
He added: “I and my colleagues understand your concern that it has not been possible to publish our conclusions before now. I am sure you will also share my desire to ensure that those conclusions – covering a period of nine years – hold firm once published.”
Cameron, who wanted the report to be published last year, expressed his disappointment and reminded Chilcot of the public and that those who have lost loved ones were “awaiting the results of your work”.
“They, and I, had hoped for publication of your report by now and we are fast losing patience,” he added.
George Osborne, the chancellor, was also pressed on the issue by the SNP as he stood in for Cameron at prime minister’s questions.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, said ministers have a “moral or political responsibility” to find out why the report keeps being delayed, after noting that both Cameron and Osborne joined Labour in voting to go to war in Iraq.
Osborne replied with a call for those involved in the inquiry to “get on with it” and publish the report but argued the government could not interfere with the timing by ordering its immediate publication.
“The Chilcot inquiry is of course completely independent of government and we do not determine when it publishes its conclusions,” he said. “But where I agree with you is this – it has been a long time coming and people I think are running out of patience, they want to see that report.
“I’d make a broader observation that of course there was a cross-party alliance between the Scottish Nationalists and the Conservative party when we called for that inquiry to be set up earlier than it actually was. If it had been we’d have the conclusions now.”
Pressure on Downing Street to hurry up the publication is not just coming from the SNP.
Jake Berry, a Conservative MP, is urging Cameron to ensure that no former MPs are given peerages until the Chilcot inquiry has been published, which he believes would enable members of the Commons to “scrutinise the inquiry and also the appointments commission to have all information before anyone is sent to the House of Lords.”
Lord Morris of Aberavon, a former attorney general, has even called on the prime minister to consider sacking Chilcot. The Labour peer said Cameron should look at “the case for discharging the chairman and members of the Chilcot inquiry, and inviting the cabinet secretary to set out a mechanism for an interim report to be produced on the basis of the evidence gathered”.
Asked about this suggestion, a senior Number 10 source said it was Chilcot to make the decision to publish.
