§ Llew SmithTo ask the Solicitor-General, pursuant to her answer of 17 March 2003,Official Report, columns 515–16, on Iraq, whether the Attorney-General 236W provided the information contained in paragraphs 1 to 7 on his legal note on "Iraq: Legal Basis for the Use of Force", to the United Kingdom Ambassador to the United Nations in advance of Sir Jeremy Greenstock's remarks to the United Nations Security Council on UNSC Resolution 1441 (2002) on 8 November 2002. [104715]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThere is a longstanding convention observed by successive Government that the fact of and substance of advice which the Law Officers may have given to Government is not publicly disclosed. This enables the Government, like everyone else, to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence. The Attorney General gave a written answer on 17 March in the House of Lords which set out his view of the legal basis for the use of force against Iraq. However, the convention against disclosure of Law Officers' advice still applies in relation to advice which the Law Officers give within Government.