No change of policy over troop withdrawal, Brown tells Iraqis

Iraq believes that Gordon Brown will follow Tony Blair’s policies and refuse to sanction a swift pullout of troops when he becomes Prime Minister.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, speaking after meeting Mr Brown in Baghdad during a surprise one-day visit, said he felt that the Chancellor had made the trip “to ensure a positive British commitment to Iraq”.

Speaking to The Times, Mr al-Maliki dampened the hopes of politicians who believe that Mr Brown’s arrival at No 10 will prompt a speedy withdrawal.

He said: “I feel he will follow the policy of Tony Blair in his decisions towards Iraq and we agreed to make contact on all the important issues we discussed. We wanted to know what the new Prime Minister was thinking about on the Iraq issue and his present policy on Iraq,” he said.

Asked whether he was worried about the prospect of Britain withdrawing its troops from the country, the Iraqi leader replied: “It was one of the issues we discussed and we wanted to be clear on everything concerning whether Britain wants to pull out and when, just to make sure we are able to put our own measures in place. They said they will not pull out before discussing it with us and we are all agreed on a replacement solution for the security process.”

Mr al-Maliki’s words were supported by sources close to the Chancellor, who also met British and American commanders in Baghdad. They said that the visit had confirmed Mr Brown’s view, based on military advice, that there could be no sudden change to the timetable for eventual British withdrawal.

Under present plans British forces are due to hand over control to Iraqi forces by the end of the year, when the British presence will be reduced by several thousand troops.

Mr Brown’s visit came as the Commons debated, and rejected, a Conservative call for an inquiry into the Iraq war. The voting was 288 to 253, cutting the Government’s majority to 35. The Chancellor said that there were lessons to be learnt from past mistakes but it was not the time for an inquiry while British troops were still in Iraq.

While again backing the decision to go to war, he distanced himself from the handling of the intelligence. It was the first time that Mr Brown had hinted that he was unhappy with the Downing Street dossier, which had suggested that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that could be deployed in 45 minutes.

Mr Brown revealed that he has asked Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, to begin a process to ensure that security and intelligence analysis is kept “independent of the political process” and that any information put into the public domain had been properly verified and validated. Asked whether he regretted the decision to go to war, he replied: “We made the decision. I take responsibility for that decision.”

Mr Brown is also drawing up proposals to make the powerful Intelligence and Security Committee more independent of Downing Street. He wants its members to be appointed by Parliament rather than No 10, and more of its evidence and reports to be made public.

Speaking to reporters travelling with him, Mr Brown, who was accompanied by Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said: “I’m here to listen, to learn, to assess what’s happening – to see what’s happening with al-Qaeda, to see what’s happening in relation to Iran, to see what’s happening to the sectarian conflicts, to see all the people on the ground and make an assessment of what’s happening.”