Blair rejects 7/7 inquiry
Updated on 01 May 2006
Tony Blair has rejected calls for a public inquiry into MI5's handling of events leading to the 7/7 bomb attacks.
However, the attorney general has told Channel 4 News he will review the way the fertiliser bomb plot trial was conducted.
Mr Blair's announcement came as relatives of those who died in the attacks delivered a letter to the home secretary, calling for a wide-ranging inquiry, after it emerged that two of the bombers had previously been tracked by MI5.
A letter addressed to John Reid and calling for a wide-ranging inquiry will be handed in at the department.
The revelation during the fertiliser bomb plot trial at the Old Bailey prompted questions over the accuracy of some of the information families and survivors of the 7/7 attacks had been given.
Survivors and families said a public inquiry could help establish what steps, if any, could have been taken to prevent the 2005 attacks.
"This is an opportune moment to reassert the case because the British public are far more aware of the situation now," Rachel North, who survived the blast on the Piccadilly Line train, said.
But Tony Blair said that any inquiry would divert resources at a time when they were needed to protect the public.
What Lord Goldsmith told Channel 4 News
Lord Goldsmith said: "I will want to talk to the prosecutors and to counsel about what experiences there have been and what lessons can be learned for other cases.
"Ultimately it is the job for the director of public prosecutions to make sure the case is presented in an effective way."
Jury trial?
It was one of the biggest terrorism trials in British legal history - costing £50m.
Walking free, after the longest ever terror trial in British history.
It had been scheduled to last for just four months - but in the end, it took 18 months and ended up costing around £50m.
The Criminal Bar Association has ordered a report - seen by Channel 4 News asking why it took so long.
The report found that the court only sat for 50% of the days it could have - time was lost because of illness, technical problems and legal argument.
The jurors were given 49 days off by the judge - including two days when a jurors hearing aid broke.
The attorney general has told us that he will now order a review.
