Iraq inquiry: Goldsmith and Blair legacies 'forever intertwined'

The day Lord Goldsmith stepped down as Attorney General in June 2007 his departure was drowned out by that of the man who had appointed him, Tony Blair.

But the Iraq war and now the Chilcot inquiry will ensure that the two men’s reputations and legacies remain intertwined forever.

The main question Goldsmith’s going to face should be pretty well known by now. As the government’s top law officer did he green-light the PM taking the country into an illegal war, a “crime of aggression” as former FCO legal adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst wrote in her resignation letter?

More specifically how did he travel from his March 2002 “considerable difficulties” with legal justification via the measured ambivalence of his March 7 2003 advice to approving the invasion 10 days later.

Yesterday’s session threw up lots more questions. How could it be that the AG was not allowed to give his full legal advice until 3 March, by which time tens of thousands of soldiers had been dispatched to the theatte of war?

As Wilmshurst asked of this “lamentable” set-up, could he realistically have ruled against war by that stage without handing Saddam Hussein an enormous propaganda victory?

How could the opinion of so many government legal officers – practically unanimous at the FCO, Wilmshurst said – be ignored by ministers? The FCO’s top legal adviser Sir Michael Wood said it was probably the only time his advice had been rejected in this way.

Jack Straw “took the view that I was being very dogmatic and that international law was pretty vague and that he wasn’t used to people taking such a firm position,” Wood said. ”When he had been at the Home Office, he had often been advised things were unlawful but he had gone ahead anyway and won in the courts.”

Last up – and Lyne lingered around asking Goldsmith’s former aide about this allegation only briefly yesterday – did the AG come under any improper pressure to change or “firm up” his guidance?

Goldsmith’s barristerial skills may be key to his performance today. Let’s see how the panel – which has been criticised in the past for lacking adversarial experience – handle him.

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