As the UK Government controversially refuses to release minutes of two Cabinet meetings held a few days prior to the War in Iraq, two conflicting reports as to the reasons for this action.
Jack Straw is reported as saying:
Cabinet minutes cannot be published because you have to preserve Cabinet confidentiality and robust decision-making.
Clare Short, who resigned as International Development Secretary after the war and was present at both meetings, is reported as saying:
The bitter irony is that what they are doing is concealing the fact there was no robust decision-making. The minutes will reveal there was no real Cabinet discussion about the Iraq War.
One or other has to be being somewhat economical with the truth. Are we heading for a future statement of ‘maybe I missspoke’, or perhaps a debate on the technical definition of ‘discussion’?