Chilcot says Iraq War report will be published in summer 2016
The much-delayed report into the Iraq War will be published in June or July 2016, the inquiry's chairman has revealed.
ITV News Deputy Political Editor Chris Ship reports:
Sir John Chilcot posted a letter to David Cameron on the Iraq Inquiry's website detailing the publication timeline for the two million word report.
The Prime Minister has told Sir John he is "disappointed" with the timetable and urged him to "expedite" the final stages, a letter released by No 10 has revealed.
Sir John has come under fire for delays in producing his report.
When then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown commissioned the inquiry, he said it would take "at least a year".
The inquiry heard 130 sessions of witness evidence and received more than 150,000 documents.
The report's publication has been delayed by a process called "Maxwellisation", under which those who may face criticism - believed to include former prime minister Tony Blair - are given the opportunity to respond before publication.
In a letter to the Prime Minister published on Thursday, Sir John said the text of the report should be completed by April 2016.
The report will then undergo National Security checks to make sure there are no breaches.
Sir John wrote: "We will complete that work as swiftly as possible. I consider that once National Security checking has been completed it should be possible to agree with you a date for publication in June or July 2016.
"Between today and the week of 18 April my colleagues and I will be finalising our findings, including in light of responses to the Maxwellisation process, and to bring that process to its final conclusion."
Read Sir John's letter in full below.
Responding to Sir John, Mr Cameron said the families of those who served in Iraq would share his disappointment at the timescale.
He wrote: "I recognise that you have a significant task, but would welcome any further steps you can take to expedite the final stages of the inquiry."
Tony Blair's spokesman said delays in the report's publication were not the former Prime Minister's fault.
The spokesman said Mr Blair received the deliberations of the inquiry under the Maxwellisation process in January 2015 and responded by August.
“The timetable of the inquiry and the length of time it will have taken to report is not the result either of issues over the correspondence between him as Prime Minister and President Bush; or due to the Maxwellisation process," the spokesman said.
“It is our understanding that other witnesses also received information very late in the process, so any suggestion that witnesses have been the cause of the delay is categorically incorrect and this has again been stated clearly and publicly by Sir John.”
Speaking in Iceland, Mr Cameron said he was "immensely frustrated" by the amount of time it has taken for the report to be published.
He said the timing was not set by the Government, but said if the last Labour Government had launched the inquiry when the Conservatives recommended it would be published by now.
Sir John said his report will run to more than two million words, potentially the longest report in history. Here are some approximate comparisons to some of literature's longest works.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the delays to the report were "getting beyond ridiculous".
He said people needed to know what happened and why so the "catastrophic mistakes" made at the time do not happen again.