Britain invaded Iraq despite there being no threat from Saddam Hussein, Sir John Chilcot says

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Britain invaded Iraq despite there being no threat from Saddam Hussein and the possibility of a peaceful resolution to the conflict, Sir John Chilcot has said.

The former civil servant has been investigating the Iraq War since 2009 and has released his report today.

Giving his summary statement in Westminster at 11am on Wednesday he said evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the country had been misrepresented by the British government and that there was not adequate post-conflict planning.

“The questions for the inquiry were whether it was right and necessary to invade Iraq in March 2003 and whether the UK could and should have been better prepared for what followed,” he said.

“We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options of disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.

“We have also conclude that the judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s WMD were presented with a certainty that was not justified.

“Despite explicit warnings the consequences of the invasion were underestimated and the planning for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were wholly inadequate.”

Sir John said it was not within his remit to rule on whether the Iraq War was legal or not.

He however said that the inquiry had found that the legal basis sought for military action in Iraq was "far from satisfactory".

On the issue of WMD Sir John said evidence showed Iraq would not have been able to create a nuclear weapon.

He said that while intelligence reports did feature WMD they did not support Government public claims of "vast stocks" and "an urgent and growing threat".

The inquiry also found that Tony Blair had been warned that the invasion of Iraq would embolden Islamic extremist terrorist groups. Large parts of Iraq are now under control of Isis.

He said the drivers of current chaos in the country had been “explicitly identified before the invasion”.

Overall, he said the Iraq Inquiry report is “an account of an intervention which went badly wrong, with consequences to this day”.