Phillip Patterson examines a major cause of the hold-up of the Iraq Inquiry report
The Iraq Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, has finally reported. Regrettably, this inquiry has become synonymous as much with the time it has taken to report as with its careful and detailed findings on a range of issues relating to the Iraq War.
Frustrations over delays in the publication of public inquiry reports are not new. Political sketch-writers have painted an amusing, though almost certainly inaccurate, picture of Sir John endlessly procrastinating rather than putting pen to paper.
On 26 August 2015, when the political clamour for publication reached a crescendo, Sir John issued a statement which identified a major cause of the delays in publication as being a process described as “Maxwellisation”. Sir John said: “Some have questioned why Maxwellisation is happening at all. We consider it an essential part of the Inquiry’s procedures, in order to ensure that conclusions drawn by the Inquiry are robust and that any criticism included in the final report is soundly based, fair and reasonable.”
