Brown’s smiles to the public gallery meet stony stares

I’m not sure we learnt a lot more in the second session of the PM’s evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

Gordon Brown was asked if he was aware that the Attorney General had changed his opinion substantially before giving war the legal go-ahead.

He answered, “I wasn’t aware in any detail.”

I think that means that he didn’t actually read the earlier longer equivocal legal advice, not that he was unaware of what was one of the most titanic problems bothering the government in the run-up to war.

In another moment he was asked about the legal advice and said that he knew that the permanent secretary (at Defence) and the military chief had required clear (legal) guidance.

They required that because what they’d got wasn’t clear.

You came away with the impression that the Prime Minister knew what was going on.

Mr Brown’s hands moved around his leather briefing folder repeatedly as the session started this morning. As he left the inquiry for the lunchtime break he made a point of turning to the public gallery (not completely full, about 10 seats empty) behind him to say “hello” twice and smile twice.

The faces I could see did not crack and returned a stony stare.

This afternoon there’ll be stuff on whether his constraints on the defence budget jeopardised military operations in Iraq.

Mr Brown is meeting any relatives of soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq who are attending during his lunch break in the QEII Centre – I’m not sure if there are many of them here at all though.

He’s mindful that the families who attended Tony Blair’s evidence session wanted a meeting in the lunch break but that was thought a bit much in the middle of a long questioning session so he has, I hear, agreed to meet them individually over the coming months with MOD welfare officers present