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Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd MP today led a debate in Westminster questioning the operation of the Iraq Inquiry and during which he exposed a serious conflict of interest at the heart of the Chilcot investigations. Following new information obtained by Mr Llwyd, he argued that the role of Mrs Margaret Aldred, Secretary to the Chilcot Inquiry and currently on secondment from the Cabinet Office, would completely undermine the outcome of the investigations. One aspect of these concerns is due to Mrs Aldred’s previous role as Deputy Head of the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat. Mrs Aldred chaired meetings of the Iraq senior officials group which coordinated policy on Iraq for four and a half years – part of the period the Inquiry is looking at. Commenting after the debate, Mr Llwyd said: “The appointment of Margaret Aldred is questionable to say the least – but the fact is without a doubt a conflict of interest here. “The key question here is – how did someone with such a clear conflict of interest get appointed to this role and what impact is it having? “It begs the question, if Mrs Aldred wasn’t the Secretary of the Inquiry, would she be called as a witness before the inquiry? Undoubtedly the answer is yes – just as her predecessor was called as a witness. “The Cabinet Office needs to answer some very serious questions. What would happen if the Inquiry wanted to criticise her previous role for example? Will Aldridge be writing the Chilcot Inquiry final report? Most probably. “The Inquiry is not independent – it is the Cabinet Office investigating itself. “New information shows that Mrs Aldred was personally involved in the Iraq build up: chairing an Iraq senior officials group, knew of the awful rendition policy and dealt with key issues that have already been discussed at the Inquiry. “To say that the Inquiry team could not foresee any conflict of interest in her appointment because of the ‘professionalism of senior civil servants’ is naïve in the extreme and is incompatible with the way that the UK Government puts measures into place to prevent such tensions. “Transparency must be paramount but they are completely absent from this process and have been from the beginning. “One obvious conclusion that can be drawn is that Mrs Aldred is managing this Inquiry in such a way as to protect and preserve Cabinet Office interests. In so doing I believe that the process is flawed if not compromised.” Elfyn Llwyd's Westminster hall speech
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