Mansfield: Blair changed stance on Iraq
Updated on 29 January 2010
As the Iraq Inquiry's star witness takes the stand, we ask one of the country's most high profile barristers, Michael Mansfield QC, for his verdict on Tony Blair.
The Chilcot inquiry is often criticised for having no legal bite. None of the members of the panel are lawyers. Watching today's proceedings was one of Britain's most famous barristers, Michael Mansfield QC.
'Blair has changed his stance'
"I'm not sure how many people have picked this up," says Mansfield. "Blair has changed his stance."
Mansfield believes the former prime minister used a different argument for going to war in front of the Chilcot inquiry today.
Blair, according to Mansfield, is no longer saying he believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
"What Blair now says is: 'Saddam had an intention to possibly reconstitute his weapons programme. This was about preventing a risk, a possibility. This was a pre-emptive exercise'".
Now under International law that is precluded, says Mansfield. "He is not allowed to be doing that."
More Channel 4 News coverage of Tony Blair at the Iraq war inquiry
- Post-war violence was 'not predicted'
- Blair: Resolution 'gave green light'
- Blair to Chilcot: I believed Saddam had WMDs
- Blair: no secret deal with Bush
- Blair: Iraq policy changed after 2001
- Iraq inquiry: day by day
Carefully chosen words
Mansfield believes Blair chose his words carefully today. "If the British public had known then, if parliament had known in 2003 what he is now saying was the basis of going to war, I don't think he would have got authority from parliament. And he certainly would not have got authority from the British public".
45 minute claim
Tony Blair today tried to diminish the importance of the 45 minute claim. Mansfield disagrees as it "relates to one of the key components about going to war".
"You can self defend if you are going to be attacked imminently - so 45 minutes - that's pretty close," says Mansfield, referring to the impression that was left on the public at the time.
"Now if Tony Blair is now saying: 'Oh sorry about that, I knew all along it only applied to field artillery' - why didn't he correct that before we went to war?"
Wasted time
Mansfield is frustrated by the Chilcot inquiry's lack of legal questioning. "You have to have someone in there who can ask structured, focused and simple questions. So that you can force the witness to begin to direct his mind to the answers."
According to Mansfield, the Iraq inquiry wastes a lot of time on background questioning. "We an hour at the beginning of today about the origins of policy making in 2001. Sure, it has a relevance but far more important is how the decision making process was carried out."
Blair's day in court
But Mansfield thinks the Chilcot Inquiry is doing its job in one respect. "It is bringing people into the public arena. It is asking them to be accountable. This exercise of accountability doesn't happen in the House of Commons anymore.
"Blair was obviously prepared," says Mansfield. "But this was his day in court."
