I THINK that Gordon Brown will find that he has made a mistake in not initially deciding to have a public inquiry into the Iraq war and arranging that there is not to be a report until after the General Election.

Now that British troops are not engaged in fighting there it will be an issue in the General Election and there will be no holds barred.

Furthermore, there is a good chance that what is said in evidence in the inquiry will be leaked and used by the mass media for mischievous purposes.

It is significant that there are many people who were in favour of the war at the start and now feel that they were not told all the truth, and this fact cannot be hidden.

Mr Brown would have been better advised to be open about everything, and not appear to be kicking an inconvenient issue into the long grass. I wonder who it is who advises him and what contact he has with the grass roots?

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.