WORTH THE WAIT ?

I can`t comment too much on the Rebekah Brooks et al court case as it`s ongoing, sub-judice and all the rest of it. But just two words from her e-mail to James Murdoch, given in evidence yesterday, triggered a whole series of memories.   The words were, of course, "Hutton style," referring to the Inquiry by Lord Hutton into the death of David Kelly and immediately that reference not only raised again the scepticism, not to say cynicism, of all matters concerning Blair and his entourage but it also nudged the memory stick into wondering whatever happened to the Chilcot Inquiry into the run-up to and conduct of the Iraq War.

Now this Inquiry has been going on since on was first established by, of all people, Gordon Brown getting on for five years ago; it took ages to hear all the witnesses and has been bogged down ever since over the reluctance of Whitehall mandarins to agree the release of `communications` between Blair and Bush as well as some Cabinet papers. Moreover, the Inquiry`s final report has also been confounded by the process known as "Maxwellisation," whereby witnesses are privately sent previews of any criticisms made about them and then invited to comment.

And so it goes on.  It`s over ten years now since the Hutton report was published and with Chilcot`s supposedly being released `later this year,` the grass has grown even longer and a once baying public may by now have lost at least some of their interest. And yet there may be some hope for a positive outcome.   Despite Chilcot himself being yet another Whitehall mandarin, it seems inconceivable after all this time, all that money, all that effort and all the ducking and weaving that another whitewash will be tolerated.   I just hope it will have been worth the wait.