Gordon Brown flew into Baghdad today promising new safeguards on intelligence to prevent a repeat of the mistakes made before the Iraq war four years ago.
As MPs prepared to debate a Conservative demand for a high level inquiry into the Iraq war, the Prime Minister-in-waiting pledged to “learn the lessons” of events in the run up to the conflict.
He said he had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to set in train a process to make sure security and intelligence analysis is kept "independent of the political process''.
He has also asked him to make sure that if intelligence is put in the public domain in future, it has been properly verified and validated - an attempt to suggest there will not be a repeat of Tony Blair's so-called “dodgy dossiers” on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
The Chancellor - who takes over at No 10 on June 27 - said he wanted a bigger role for Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and confirmed that MPs should vote on whether to go to war, except in the most exceptional circumstances.
Mr Brown had talks with Iraqi premier Nouri Maliki and met leading British and American military commanders.
He said he wanted to make an assessment of what was happening on the ground so that he was better informed.
After meeting some of the UK troops based in Baghdad, the Chancellor was asked if he regretted the decision to go to war and replied:
"We made the decision, I take responsibility for that decision.''
But he admitted: “We have lessons to be learned for the future.”
Strict security surrounded the Chancellor's arrival and reporters travelling with him were banned from disclosing details of his visit in advance.
During Tony Blair's visit to Baghdad and Basra last month, both locations came under mortar attacks - with shells landing in Basra 60 to 100 yards from where Mr Blair was meeting UK commanders.
At Westminster, the Conservatives launched a fresh attempt to force the Government to hold an inquiry by independent Privy counsellors - senior parliamentarians - to review the Government's actions in the run up to the war.
Conservatives used an Opposition day debate in the House of Commons to force a vote on the call for an all-party inquiry, though the Government's Commons majority should ensure that the motion will be defeated, even if some anti-war Labour MPs vote with the Opposition or abstain.
Ministers insist that there have already been four inquiries of various kinds and that a further investigation while British troops are engaged in Iraq would be counter-productive.
William Hague, Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, warned that the Government could not continue to resist calls for an inquiry with the power to summon other politicians, officials and military personnel.
"I don't think an inquiry can be indefinitely postponed as the Government keep trying to do,'' he said.
"It is very important to start an inquiry by the end of 2007 into events that happened back in 2003 unless memories have faded and emails are going to have disappeared.
"A proper inquiry into Iraq is also essential to restoring public trust and confidence in the Government - or any government - when it comes to taking decisions of this kind,'' Mr Hague said.
