Writing in the Financial Times newspaper, former law lord Lord Steyn expressed strong opinions on the Iraq inquiry. The inquiry, Steyn said, should publish an interim report before the next general election declaring the war illegal.

Sir John Chilcot, the chairman of the inquiry, has the right to issue an interim report before he publishes his final conclusions towards the end of next year or in 2011, but he has said that he is unlikely to do so. Chilcot has also stated that the inquiry will not discuss the legality of the war until the new year. Lord Steyn insisted that the inquiry should be considering the legality of the invasion now. 

“There is no reason grounded in the public interest to avoid considering and ruling on the legality of the Iraq war now or very soon. The public interest favours transparency now, avoiding the issue being kicked into the long grass for party political reasons until after the election,” Steyn wrote. Steyn supported his argument by echoing the words of Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations who argued that in the absence of a second UN resolution authorising the invasion of Iraq, it was illegal.

On the Prime Minister’s selection of the members of the inquiry, he said “I have no doubt all five members are persons of independence, competence and integrity. But the method of selection was not calculated to inspire public confidence”. He found it “odd” that there was not any military figure on the inquiry “even though the majority of the evidence concerns military matters”. On the similar lack of lawyers, he remarked “perhaps it is not surprising, given that lawyers are paid to probe.”

Last Monday the Iraq inquiry took evidence from Sir Peter Ricketts, the head of the Foreign Office, and Edward Chaplin, the Middle East director at the Foreign Office from 2002 to 2004.