LIB DEMS WILL NOT TAKE PART IN INQUIRY- KEETCH

3.09.53pm GMT Wed 4th Feb 2004

MP for Hereford and Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary Paul Keetch has explained the reasons behind the decision of the Liberal Democrats not to take part in the inquiry into the failure to find WMD in Iraq.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy MP, wrote to the Prime Minister yesterday regarding both the make-up and the remit of the inquiry, which is to be chaired by Lord Butler.

The Liberal Democrat's key requirement was that the inquiry should not only investigate the quality of intelligence which was provided to the Government in the build-up to the Iraq war, but also the judgements which were made by the politicians about those intelligence assessments.

"I know that this was a difficult decision to take," Mr Keetch said. "But it is our view that given the remit that the Government has set, this inquiry could focus only on whether intelligence was accurate, and not examine the crucial issue of how politicians have used that intelligence to justify going to war.

"I believe that the public have serious questions about how the Government used the intelligence that it had in the run-up to war. It seems to me that because of its narrow remit this inquiry will be unable to answer those questions.

"Unlike the Tories who backed the war before the Government's dossier had even been produced, the Liberal Democrats have been posing the major questions to the Government on Iraq all along, and we will continue to challenge the Government on these matters. We seek the answers the public is also seeking, but I am sad to say that I do not believe that this inquiry can provide these answers."