Iraq inquiry told it cannot publish Blair-Bush letters

The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, has sent a big fat “no” to the Iraq inquiry’s request to publish quotations from the private letters that Tony Blair sent to President Bush.

We know the inquiry think they are central evidence they would like to have referred to in this session. They must now make do with alluding to them.

Sir Roderic Lyne quoted from them in a way that made clear he felt they gave President Bush assurance that Britain would be with him in Iraq even without a UN resolution (that’s without a first UN resolution, not just a second one, as the first of these letters is believed to date from July 2002).

The inquiry may appeal, but given the protocols that govern this process and which the inquiry signed up to and given Whitehall neurosis about putting in the public domain stuff that has been confidential between the US and the UK the chances of a successful appeal must be low.

This is one of, if not the first, categorical refusals that the inquiry has had in its declassification requests – other requests are “ongoing” I hear. Sir Roderick Lyne referred sarcastically to our “ever-bountiful government” in Wednesday’s evidence session.

Sir John Chilcot referred to “frustration” with the way this process was working.