Brown dodges questions on Blair’s commitment to war

“I did it for the UN” (my paraphrase) – that was Gordon Brown’s message to the Iraq inquiry. Others may have had other motivations – for me, it was all about protecting the rule of the UN. 

The Iraq inquiry team really did try to get Mr Brown to say whether he knew Tony Blair was committed to war (assuming other avenues failed) as early as the spring of 2002.

Mr Brown doggedly dodged these questions  – trying to emphasise his role as beancounter-in-chief at the Treasury and downplaying his role as joint godfather of New Labour and Tony Blair’s partner in government – but he did say he knew everything he needed to know.