War in Ukraine: Quick links
This page provides links to useful sources of information on the situation in Ukraine, including government statements, press resources and background briefings.
Documents to download
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Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot): Timeline of Principal Developments (133 KB , PDF)
Iraq Inquiry: Publication Date Announced
On 6 May 2016, Sir John Chilcot notified the Prime Minister, David Cameron, he proposed to publish the report by the Iraq Inquiry on 6 July 2016. Mr Cameron replied stating that his officials stood ready to assist on the arrangements for the publication.
Background
On 15 June 2009, the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced the establishment of an independent privy counsellor committee of inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, to consider the UK’s military involvement in Iraq. It would cover the period from summer 2001, before military operations began in Iraq in March 2003, and the UK’s subsequent involvement, to the end of July 2009, when the last troops returned home.
The then Government had previously resisted repeated calls for an official, broad ranging inquiry to investigate the lead up to the Iraq war. However, in June 2009, Gordon Brown explained that, with the final British combat troops about to return from Iraq, it was “the right time” to ensure a “proper process” was in place to learn the lessons of the “complex and often controversial events of the last six years”. Given the complexity of the issues that the Inquiry would address, Gordon Brown added that he had been advised “it will take a year”.
The Iraq Inquiry (“Chilcot”) was officially launched by Sir John Chilcot on 30 July 2009. Sir John noted that it could not know how long the Inquiry would take “until it had read the background material and heard the evidence”. Public evidence hearings took place between 24 November 2009 and February 2011 but various parts of the process, such as agreeing the disclosure of documents, and providing individuals who may be criticised in the report with an opportunity to respond (“Maxwellisation”) are reported to have caused delays.
This Lords Library briefing provides a brief timeline of principal developments during the Inquiry’s process. It particularly focusses on delays of the report’s publication.
Documents to download
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Iraq Inquiry (Chilcot): Timeline of Principal Developments (133 KB , PDF)
Related posts
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Impact of the conflict in Ukraine: UK defence and the integrated review
Since the beginning of the 2022 Russian attack on Ukraine, there have been calls for the government to reconsider the policies outlined in its 2021 integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy. On 9 June 2022, the House of Lords will debate the impact of the conflict in Ukraine, including its effect on the UK’s defence and foreign policy. This briefing looks at what the implications of the conflict might be on the UK’s strategic priorities as set out in the integrated review.
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International Agreements Committee report on improving the framework for the parliamentary scrutiny of treaties
In September 2021, the House of Lords International Agreements Committee published a report on its experiences scrutinising agreements under the current statutory framework for treaty scrutiny. Among its recommendations, the committee called for government commitments on scrutiny working practices made since April 2020 to be consolidated in a formal concordat. The committee also asked the government to commit to giving it more notice of both treaties set to be laid before Parliament and significant other agreements.
