BRITAIN: The British attorney general's office was ordered yesterday to disclose information leading to his advice on the legality of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Information commissioner Richard Thomas upheld requests for an explanation of Lord Goldsmith's statement to parliament on March 17th that year.
In a letter to the law officers, Mr Thomas said the attorney general's confidential advice to the government on March 7th, 2003, had been "significantly more equivocal in nature". He added: "There is a public interest in establishing the extent to which published statements are consistent with fuller advice that had been given."
The enforcement notice requires publication of a disclosure statement containing "the substance of information" which led to Lord Goldsmith's written answer to the House of Lords on March 17th.
Mr Thomas said yesterday it was an "exceptional, complex and sensitive case" which had raised many issues. "My conclusion is that the balance of the competing public interest tests calls for disclosure of the recorded information which led to, or supported, the concluded views which were made public by the attorney general in his March 17th statement."