WHEN Alastair Campbell gave his wholly unsatisfactory evidence to the Iraq inquiry earlier this month, he confirmed that Gordon Brown was at the heart of the decision-making which led to the war.

It was hardly a surprising declaration from Mr Campbell. Indeed, it would have been remarkable if Tony Blair had not consulted closely with his Chancellor before taking such a momentous step.

Nevertheless, it underlines why it is right for Mr Brown to give evidence to the Iraq inquiry before the General Election.

If the people of Britain are to be asked to vote for him as the country’s leader, they should, of course, be given every insight into his judgement.

Tony Blair was the man who took the ultimate decision to go to war – the biggest decision a country’s leader can take. But Tony Blair is history.

It is Gordon Brown who may be faced with that decision in the future and his views on the Iraq conflict should therefore be laid bare.

How did he justify the invasion?

What did he do to try to avoid it? What steps did he take to give our troops the necessary protection?

With opposition calls for his preelection appearance growing, Mr Brown had to been seen to be stepping forward.

There will be plenty of Labour MPs and candidates who will not relish the fact that an even stronger spotlight will now be shone on a damaging electoral issue.

But Mr Brown was left in a position where he had to avoid fuelling suspicion that he had something to hide.

He now needs to get on with it as quickly as possible.