Will Blair go to war again?

The TV trucks and protesters are ready. The former PM will take the Chilcot stand on Friday – but will it be Showdown Day or a classic British anticlimax, asks Andrew Gilligan.

Jack Straw’s appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry, as so often with big occasions involving this particular minister, was preceded by an amusingly blatant display of political choreography.

First, in last Sunday’s papers, we had the leaked letter showing how Straw had doubts all along about military action. In Tuesday’s London Evening Standard, Straw’s son was wheeled out, condemning a “duplicitous” Tony Blair for exploiting his father’s loyalty.

Then came the memo to the inquiry from the former foreign secretary himself, setting out his secret plan, raised with Blair, to keep Britain out of the war. Finally, on Thursday, the command performance: Straw’s heartfelt oral testimony of his agonised decisions, constant battles to do the right thing and “deep regret” about the way things had gone. “How was my advice received?” he said. “You’ll need to ask Mr Blair this.”

Chilcot may have started out as an inquiry, but it is turning into a Whitehall version of Murder on the Orient Express. For the last two months, with Straw as merely the latest and least subtle example, everyone has been lining up to stab the same victim.

This Friday, however, that person, Tony Blair, will finally have the chance to answer his assailants. The TV trucks are booked; the demonstrators are readying their banners; the draw for spectator seats has been made. But will it be Showdown Day, or a classic British anticlimax?

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