Iraq war inquiry after withdrawal

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Foreign Secretary David Miliband told MPs the inquiry long called for by opposition MPs and servicemen's families will not have to wait until all UK personnel have come home.

His comments in the Commons came as relatives of some of those killed in the war delivered their latest demand for an official investigation into the conduct of the conflict.

Reg Keys, Rose Gentle and Peter Brierley, who have campaigned for years for a full public inquiry, issued their plea in a letter handed in to 10 Downing Street on behalf of more than 25 families who lost loved ones in Iraq.

Mrs Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon, of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004, said: "Our sons were all killed in the Iraq war. Together with many other bereaved families we have campaigned for nearly five years for a full independent inquiry into the reasons why we went into Iraq in the first place. There needs to be a proper accounting for this war in order to cleanse our political system."

She was joined by Mr Keys, father of Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, a Royal Military Policeman killed by an Iraqi mob in Majar al-Kabir in 2003, and Mr Brierley, father of Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, who died in a road traffic accident while serving in Iraq.

The Foreign Secretary said there were "important lessons to be learnt" from the conflict, adding: "The time to focus on an official inquiry is when the troops come home to safety, not when they are still exposed to danger in Iraq.

"Precedent supports this, and so does common sense. And for the avoidance of doubt, I was asked on December 10 if that meant every troop coming home and I gave a very clear answer: we are talking about combat troops, not every troop."

Asked by Tory Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) if that meant there would be an inquiry set up as "soon as practical" after July 31, Mr Miliband simply replied: "Yes."

Mr Miliband gave no firm indication of what form the inquiry would take but praised the Franks Inquiry into the Falklands war, which sat in private.