THE Chilcot Report was tougher than many of us expected. We had good reason for our doubts. The panel was headed by a retired diplomat, instead of a judge and consequently did not have the powers of a judicial enquiry; while two of the four other members had publicly supported the war.

Gordon Brown in setting up the Enquiry had been careful to exclude a lawyer, let alone an international lawyer, so as was remarked at the time of the hearings, nobody on the panel showed any forensic skill in cross examining witnesses, and only Sir Roderick Lyle had any idea about how to go about it.

So there was every reason to fear that the report would be a whitewash. And the fact that, against the odds, it has turned out not to be has produced a not completely justified euphoria.

For it still reflects the limitations of the Chilcot panel. Because it did not contain an international lawyer, it refused to rule on the crucial question of the legality of the war. And yet the late Lord Bingham, regarded by his peers as the outstanding jurist of his generation, had no doubt that the war was illegal.

But this omission meant that the discourse of the Report moved away from the language of criminality to the more comfortable one of personal shortcomings of mistake and misjudgement.

The military families, who are still mourning the loss of sons and daughters in that illegal invasion and wanted to bring Blair to be answerable in court have had the rug pulled from under them. They still want to hold Blair to account — but it is difficult to see how they will be able do so.

But it is to be hoped that the publication of the Report has an effect on the Labour Party crisis particularly after Jeremy Corbyn's speech to the Commons and to military families where he apologised on behalf of the Labour Party. For they were succeeded by two hours of Blair's continuing self justifications,which were rightly very unfavourably received. Do the members of the Parliamentary Labour Party really prefer to be led by a warmonger like Blair or a peace maker like Corbyn? Corbyn not only voted against the war, like our own David Crausby and Brian Iddon, but as a leading member of Stop the War he campaigned vigorously against it

Malcolm Pittock

St James Avenue

Bolton