Iraq Inquiry ends with long speech – and now long wait

The last oral, on-camera submission of the Iraq Inquiry was from Jack Straw and must be something of a record. His answer lasted, uninterrupted, from 1.31pm to 1.50pm (19 minutes and 30 seconds to be precise). It was a tour d’horizon of relations with Iran and some thoughts on post-war Prime Ministerial governing styles. I half expected Sir John Chilcot and his team to have disappeared home when the cameras spun round at the end of the contribution. But they were still there and Sir John wound up the public sessions.

He said the inqury team would now get down to the business of writing up the report which would take “some months.” He was careful not to put any sort of date on it, but it makes you think that they are hoping to get this out before the Summer holidays and not particularly confident of doing it much earlier. They are, as he reminded people, being asked to put together some sort of definitive account that stretches over eight years and offers lessons too.

Sir John said he expected to release more confidential documents and some transcripts of private oral evidence.