Pressure grows for public Iraq inquiry

Gordon Brown could be facing another damaging Commons defeat after some of the British military's top brass joined with Labour backbenchers and opposition MPs to demand the Prime Minister changes his mind and holds the new Iraq War inquiry in public.

There is mounting dismay amongst Labour backbenchers, including the head of the foreign affairs committee Mike Gapes, that Brown's public pledge to be more open and listen more has failed its first test.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has tabled a Commons debate for next Wednesday demanding all evidence, where possible, should be held in public. And now senior military figures including General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the Army during the Iraq invasion, Air Marshal Sir John Walker, ex-head of Defence Intelligence and Major General Julian Thompson, the Falklands War veteran, have joined the clamour for a U-turn.

There is now a real feeling in Westminster that this issue is going the same way as the Gurkha row, which saw Brown forced into a deeply embarrassing climbdown over their rights to settle in Britain. It is argued he refused to listen to concerns over that issue until it was far too late and that he misjudged the nature of the row.

Many in the military think the inquiry should be in the open to avoid allegations there is something to hide. Gen Jackson told the Independent: "I do not see why it could not have gone for a halfway house with sessions in public and then having private hearings when it comes to intelligence.

"And they do have to look at the intelligence that Blair used in the run-up to the war, which at the end turned out to be fool's gold."

Gapes has said the decision was a missed opportunity for Brown and there are now serious rumblings among Labour MPs who are so fed up with the Prime Minister's failure to listen to their concerns they are considering backing the Tory motion next week.

Another defeat on such a major issue would pitch Brown's leadership and judgment back into the spotlight only days after he weathered the most serious challenge to his position.

What has puzzled many in Westminster is exactly why Brown chose to have a private inquiry. Few believe the fresh probe will be able to uncover anything startlingly new or that escaped the scrutiny of the previous inquiries by Lord Hutton and Lord Butler.

So, they claim, this was a politically motivated decision aimed at giving Labour MPs something they had been demanding for years and boosting Brown's standing and authority amongst his fractious backbenchers. His decision to make the inquiry private has actually achieved the exact opposite.

Little wonder Brown has been persuaded to take on a proper spin doctor in the shape of Simon Lewis. The trouble is, he doesn't start until July. ·