Lunch break at the inquiry and the Fourth Estate gather to discuss what “The Story” currently looks like being.
Several journalists say they’re going with the internal Foreign Office “options paper” that Sir William Patey mentioned this morning.
Although the former head of the Middle East department made clear that regime change was just one of a large number of options and that it was dismissed out of hand, the fact that it appeared at all has prompted some comment.
On the other hand several hacks say they heard the words “illegal” or “illegality” used at least four times during the hearing in relation to the regime change option. One writer described the opening session as Revenge of the Mandarins, a chance at last for traditionally tight-lipped Whitehall grandees to finally give their version of events.
By the way the inquiry press office say they hope to release uncorrected transcripts of the morning’s evidence on its website later this afternoon – my guess is that they should appear here. Be warned, the Queen’s English takes a fair knocking when speakers get too fast for the shorthand writers.
The afternoon session has just started; Simon Webb from the MoD has resumed giving evidence and he’s joined by Sir Michael Wood, who was legal adviser at the Foreign Office between 1999 and 2006.