§ Llew SmithTo ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to provide the number of occasions the Cabinet Defence and Overseas Policy Committee met between 9 September 2002 and 18 March 2003. [126304]
§ The Prime MinisterThere was no meeting of the Cabinet Defence and Overseas Policy Committee during this period. However, as I told the Liaison Committee on 8 July, the reason why this was not necessary was that Iraq appeared on the agenda of Cabinet as early as March 2002. From 23 September 2002 until after the conflict, Iraq was discussed at every regular Cabinet meeting.
Additionally, during the course of the conflict, an ad hoc group of Ministers, which I chaired, met 28 times. The membership of the group was the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Secretary of State for International Development, the Leader of the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Defence, and the Attorney General.