Blair briefed me directly on Iraq

DOWNING Street closely managed efforts to try to stabilise Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion of 2003, the inquiry into the conflict has heard.

The UK Ambassador to Baghdad from 2005 to 2006, Sir William Payet, yesterday revealed that, for the first time in his career, he received instructions directly from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Giving evidence on the first day of public hearings, he said throughout his time in the post he would receive almost daily telephone calls from No 10 urging him to take particular courses of action.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The politics here demanded instant results," he told the inquiry. "The first time I have ever had instructions as an ambassador directly from the Prime Minister was help get a constitution that the Iraqis would vote positively for, the formation of a new government, create the conditions for the withdrawal of British troops. It was quite simple."

He added: "They were quite reasonable instructions, provided you realised that they weren't in my gift or solely in the gift of the British Government.

"There was a tension between the desire for instant results and the realities on the ground. What you could achieve in the sort of timescales that London needed for political reasons – there was a disconnect."

Sir William said that, in particular, he had been under pressure from Downing Street to engage with the radical Shia cleric, Muqtada al Sadr, who was leading an insurgency against international coalition forces.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"There was rarely a day went by when I did not have a phone call from No 10," he said. "I was encouraged by No 10 to reach out to the Sadrists to give them the message that we felt they had a place in the political system."

He acknowledged however that his efforts had had only limited success.

"Moqtada refused to see me throughout my time there and every Sadrist I did see seemed to lose their job very soon afterwards," he said.

"They were very reluctant to engage with us but we tried to engage with them."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Overall he acknowledged that the British had struggled to influence events on the ground and to rebuild the shattered infrastructure in southern Iraq – the UK area of control.

"I think the level of ambition was probably higher than the ability to deliver. What could be delivered on Powerpoint could not necessarily be delivered on earth," he said.

Vice Admiral Charles Style, who was the deputy chief of Defence Staff at the time, said the "tremendous appetite" from Whitehall for detailed information about what was happening on the ground made it difficult to take a long-term strategic view of the situation.

"It was not so much a question of micro-management but there was an awful lot of inquisitive concern and interest in a great deal of detail in terms of attempting to understand exactly what was going on almost minute by minute," he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

General Sir Nick Houghton, who was Chief of Joint Operations, said that, from 2006, there was pressure to wind down UK force levels in Iraq in order to concentrate on the new mission in Afghanistan.

He also strongly defended the decision of British forces to pull out of the centre of Basra in 2007.

BALLOTS FOR SEATS TO HEAR EX-PM

Audience seats for Tony Blair's highly-anticipated appearance before the Iraq Inquiry will be allocated by public ballot.

The former Prime Minister will give a full day of evidence between January 25 and February 5.

Because of overwhelming interest, in particular from families of troops killed in the conflict, places that day will be awarded by ballot.