“At last we will finally have the inquiry that so many of us have been demanding for so long; but a secret inquiry is not what is needed” commented Phil Willis MP (Harrogate & Knaresborough) after Gordon Brown’s announcement of an inquiry into the Iraq War.

“Liberal Democrats have called for an inquiry into the build-up and conduct of the Iraq war for many years but the inquiry should be in public. We need to rebuild public trust and this cannot be done if the inquiry is not open or transparent.

“On the one hand the Prime Minister has seen sense and extended the inquiry to cover the origins of the war. He has also agreed to give it full access to the documents and files it will need. But the downside is that there was little attempt to secure consensus on the panel that will conduct the inquiry and we are left asking the question as to why will the inquiry not report until after the general election.

“The veterans, and the families and friends of those who gave their lives in this disastrous war and indeed the country as a whole deserve more than this government is giving them.”