Lord Goldsmith

Tony Blair has told MPs the attorney general did not breach the ministerial code of conduct by failing to provide the Cabinet with a full copy of his legal advice on the Iraq war.

The prime ministers used his weekly Commons question time on Wednesday to deny reports Lord Goldsmith had withheld information from colleagues.

Former international development secretary Clare Short had made the accusation in response to a written answer provide by Downing Street to a Plaid Cymru MP.

Short, who sat in the Cabinet at the time, alleged that the senior legal adviser to the government had only provided an oral presentation on his views.

"I am afraid that it is now clear to me that by failing to reveal your full legal advice and the considerations that underpinned your final advice, you misled the Cabinet and therefore helped obtain support for military action improperly," she told her former colleague in a letter.

"This is a very serious matter in relation to the war in Iraq, the integrity of your office, your own integrity and the proper working of UK constitutional arrangements."

The code states that when offering a summary of a legal opinion the attorney general should also attach a full written copy of his advice.

That led Labour MP and Iraq war critic Tam Dalyell to question Blair on the subject in the Commons.

He asked whether the code required the Cabinet to get full or partial advice from law officers.

Blair replied: "It depends on whether the attorney general attends the Cabinet or not."

Advice

As a non-Cabinet member Lord Goldsmith would normally send a copy of his advice to a meeting, the prime minister explained.

"In the instance that is being reported in the newspapers attorney general came to Cabinet and gave an oral report on his advice," he said.

Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd later asked why "a written opinion good enough for him and an oral opinion right for the rest of the Cabinet?"

The prime minister responded: "The attorney general came to the Cabinet and gave his opinion in detail and was able to answer any queries that people raised about it.

"I really don't know what is being said by the honourable member and others.

"If it is being said that the legal opinion of the attorney general is different somehow from the attorney general's statement to this House that is patently absurd.

"I also would point out that as a result of the evidence that has emerged subsequent to the Iraq war it is perfectly obvious that there were indeed multiple breaches of UN resolutions and it was as a result of breaches of UN resolutions that we went to war."

Opposition parties are calling for the full text of Lord Goldsmith's 2003 advice to be made public to clear up any confusion over the row.

Precedent

The government maintains that to do so would break with precedent, while a statement provided to MPs offers a fair summary of his view.

Llwyd later disputed the prime minister's interpretation of the code.

"This is utter nonsense," he said. "The ministerial code is quite clear; if a summary of the legal advice is given to the Cabinet, the full text must also be attached. There are no get out clauses for Tony Blair on this occasion and no amount of legal training or spin doctoring will change things.

"We know from comments made by Clare Short that a text was distributed to Cabinet members containing a summary of the legal opinion but that ministers were kept in the dark about the full advice.

"Tony Blair has shown contempt to his Cabinet colleagues, to parliament and worse of all to the people."

Simon Thomas, the MP who uncovered the breach in the ministerial code, said: "The prime minister really is scraping the barrel here. The fact that the attorney general was present at the Cabinet meeting on March 17, 2003 is neither here nor there.

"Section 2.23 of the ministerial code clearly states that if a summary of the opinion is presented to Cabinet, as indeed Clare Short who was a member of the Cabinet at that time has confirmed, the full text should be attached to that summary.

"It is essential that an investigation is now held into this serious breach in the ministerial code. How can Tony Blair police the ministerial code when he himself is guilty of breaching it?"