Iraq inquiry: Cameron to demand Chilcot names a publication datec

By The Guardian

The prime minister, who is losing patience with report delays, will tell Sir John Chilcot he must set out a timetable for its completion.

An impatient David Cameron will demand Sir John Chilcot names the date by which his report into the British invasion of Iraq will be ready for publication.

The prime minister is expected to tell Chilcot he wants to see the report as soon as possible. “Right now I want a timetable,” he told journalists.

Exasperated by the repeated delays into the publication of the report, Cameron fears it may not be published until as late as summer next year. The aim is to get a publication timetable from Chilcot but it is unlikely one will be given before MPs return from their summer break in September “I cannot make it go faster because it’s a public inquiry and it’s independent,” Cameron will tell Chilcot, “but I do want a timetable and I think we deserve one pretty soon.”

Cameron’s officials said he will demand Chilcot puts a clear timetable on his desk, including the date by which the report will be published.

Chilcot has so far declined to give a timetable for the publication of the findings of the Iraq war inquiry, which opened in 2009 and concluded in 2011. He previously told Cameron and separately the chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, Sir Crispin Blunt, that he was still waiting for witnesses to respond to planned criticisms in the report. He is also examining fresh evidence.

But Cameron said the delay was heartbreaking for the families of soldiers who had died or had been wounded in the war and they deserved an explanation of why and how the war was conducted.

“For their sake, as well as for the sake of the public, we’ve got to get on with this,” he said. “More important than anything is thinking of the parents who lost loved ones in Iraq. The most powerful conversation I’ve had about this was with a mother who said to me at the Staffordshire Arboretum, when we were commemorating the Bastion memorial wall for Afghanistan, was just, ‘you know, it’s the parents and the families who want answers’.”

Chilcot has been under pressure from the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to speed the process and Whitehall has offered additional assistance to help the inquiry complete its work.

Heywood said he had repeatedly offered help in a bid to speed up the report, which has already cost £10.3m. Heywood has himself been frustrated by delays and any suggestion he has been withholding papers or documents relevant to the inquiry.

In a letter to Blunt, Chilcot said he had discussed with officials what extra help would be needed “in its closing stages”.

He insisted the inquiry is making “significant progress” but could not yet set out a timetable, further frustrating No 10’s attempts to hasten the publication.