Iraq inquiry WILL consider the legality of the war

At one point this morning giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry the current permanent secretary at the FCO and former JIC chairman Sir Peter Ricketts said that regime change in 2001 was something that the FCO thought there would be no legal basis for (I will know if I can put quotation marks round that as will you when transcripts go on the Iraq inquiry website – maybe early to mid-afternoon.)

I heard Sir William Patey – now our man in Saudi Arabia, then in 2001 heading the Mid-East section of the FCO – say that back in 2001 military action on Iraq was considered by the FCO amongst the worst possible policy options.

A big chunk of this inquiry’s work will be about discovering what changed each of those perceptions.

Sir John Chilcot made a point of trying to slap down the Guardian front page story and insisted he would be passing judgement on the legality of war but wouldn’t come to all that till the 2010 sessions.

Having been in the inquiry room this morning two quick observations: there’s a bathroom acoustic and matching exposed pipework, and the first member of the public in attendance to fall asleep nodded off at 10.34.

Related: Waiting in a tiny room for the Iraq inquiry

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