How not to publish an inquiry report

There are fears that Lord Saville will fall into the same trap as a fellow law lord when he publishes the Bloody Sunday report in a year’s time. Confirmation that Lord Saville has not yet decided whether to include a summary as part his report into the Bloody Sunday Inquiry next autumn reminds me of the last judge to fall into this trap. Sir Richard Scott spent more than three years working on the so-called arms to Iraq inquiry, reporting early in 1996. Ministers, he decided, had misled Parliament. The Tory government’s legal advisers, he believed, had got the law wrong. Within a fortnight, though, the government had won a Commons debate by one vote and Whitehall returned to business as usual. Acquittals in an export controls trial had led to two charges against the government. First, ministers were accused of helping arms... [read full story]