Goldsmith Before Iraq Inquiry

The Government's former chief legal adviser Lord Goldsmith did change his stance on the legality of the Iraq war prior to the invasion, he admitted today.

Lord Goldsmith, the ex-Attorney General, said his first ruling that a second UN resolution was necessary had been "too cautious".

A month before the 2003 invasion Lord Goldsmith conceded he had thought it "safer" to gain UN backing.

However, he gave Tony Blair the "green light" to proceed citing preconditions laid down after the Gulf War.

The peer faced six hours of questioning from Iraq Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot, today.

Former prime minister Tony Blair will provide his evidence on Friday.

Yesterday, ex-legal advisers at the Foreign Office claimed Lord Goldsmith had shifted his position on the lawfulness of the war just days before troops were deployed.

They said the Attorney General had insisted on gaining a second resolution from the UN, but later decided an invasion could be balanced on existing rulings from the international body.

In February 2002 he said it was his belief a second resolution would put the "matter beyond doubt and nobody could have challenged the legality".

However, Lord Goldsmith said later discussions with US and UK officials led him to believe terms in a previous resolution could "revive" justification for invasion.

In particular, he said it reactivated UN resolution 678 agreed at the end of the Gulf War which authorised the international community to use "all necessary means to restore international peace and security" in the region after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Lord Goldsmith said he did not ignore warnings from Foreign Office lawyers Sir Michael Wood and Elizabeth Wilmshurst that the invasion amounted to a "crime of aggression".

"I paid great attention to what their views were," he told the inquiry. "Ultimately I disagreed with the views they took."

Lord Goldsmith said his job was to provide "accurate legal advice" whatever his "private views" on the policy.

(PR/GK)