Iraq inquiry: Shock horror

Following John Kampfer’s revelations in The Spectator, Downing Street has denied that Brown did a deal with Tony Blair via Mandy to keep the Iraq war inquiry private:

The Prime Minister's spokesman dismissed the claim, saying there was a "fatal flaw" in it, because the inquiry was to be in public and he rejected suggestions that was only because the deal had fallen apart after mounting pressure for the inquiry to be in public.

"The one flaw is that we are not having the inquiry in secret. We would certainly deny any suggestion the Prime Minister did any such deal," he said.

Come again.  Obviously all of us have misunderstood the situation.  Perhaps the PMS has forgotten that the original proposal was for the inquiry to be held in private.

The “fatal flaw” was the assumption by Blair and Mandy that Brown would be able to close the deal on the inquiry as they both wished.

There is nothing like rewriting history before it is written.