35-419: [REDACTED] The Scott Report (the Report of the Inquiry into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related Prosecutions ) was a judicial inquiry commissioned in 1992 after reports surfaced of previously restricted arms sales to Iraq in the 1980s by British companies. The report was conducted by Sir Richard Scott , then a Lord Justice of Appeal . It was published in 1996. Much of
70-471: A booming economy and falling unemployment. However, as the Conservatives had denied responsibility for the recession at the turn of the decade , few voters were willing to give them credit for the economic recovery, and Labour returned to power after eighteen years in opposition, with a 179-seat majority that saw several powerful Conservative figures (most notably Michael Portillo , widely tipped to be
105-537: A dramatic turnaround in Tory support, with the double-digit lead in the opinion polls for the Labour Party being replaced by a narrow Conservative one by the turn of 1991. Although a general election did not have to be held until June 1992, Labour leader Neil Kinnock kept pressurising Major to hold an election during 1991, but Major resisted the calls and there was no election that year. The recession which began in
140-569: A new opponent in John Smith , who succeeded Neil Kinnock as Labour leader. However, the months which followed the 1992 general election saw a series of events which went a long way towards deciding the outcome of the next general election long before it was even on the political horizon. On Wednesday 16 September 1992, the pound sterling crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after Chancellor of
175-492: A press pack. The latter included a few relatively positive extracts from the report, presented as if representative of the entire report. Given a then largely pro-government press, this proved effective at stalling an extensive analysis in the media. The report had to be debated in Parliament. Ministers criticised in the report were given advanced access to the report and briefed extensively on how to defend themselves against
210-616: A servant of the crown a minister is answerable to Parliament". The third area was that of public-interest immunity certificates, which had been issued during the Matrix Churchill trial. As a result of these certificates, innocent men were in danger of being sent to prison, because the government would not allow the defence counsel to see the documents that would exonerate their clients. While some of these documents contained potentially sensitive intelligence material, many were simply internal communications. The Scott report said that
245-566: A vote "for" was a vote exonerating the Government of any wrongdoing. Robin Cook worked with a team of researchers to scrutinise the report, and delivered "what was regarded as a bravura performance" in discussing it in total. Nonetheless, the Government won the vote 320–319. Arms-to-Iraq [REDACTED] The Arms-to-Iraq affair concerned the uncovering of the government-endorsed sale of arms by British companies to Iraq , then under
280-488: A way that would not attract attention. When Alan Clark admitted under oath that he had been "economical with the actualité " in answering questions regarding what he knew about the policy on arms exports to Iraq, the trial collapsed and triggered the Scott Inquiry , which reported in 1996. This case also raised the issue of public interest immunity , the process by which information believed to be highly sensitive
315-506: Is kept outside the public domain. In order to prevent information being public the relevant government minister must issue a public interest immunity certificate. Second Major ministry [REDACTED] John Major formed the second Major ministry following the 1992 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new government. His government fell into minority status on 13 December 1996. The change of leader from Margaret Thatcher to John Major saw
350-621: The Liberal Democrats benefiting at their expense. Internal Conservative Party feuding on Europe and the government defeat on the Maastricht Treaty further dented the government's popularity, as did coal mine closures announced in late 1992, and a series of scandals involving MPs. The end of the recession was declared in April 1993 after nearly three years, and unemployment – which had peaked at nearly 3,000,000 people by
385-610: The Ministerial Code by the Blair Government . Following the first Gulf War of 1991 there was interest in the extent to which British companies had been supplying Saddam Hussein's administration with the materials to prosecute the war. Four directors of the British machine tools manufacturer Matrix Churchill were put on trial for supplying equipment and knowledge to Iraq, but in 1992 the trial collapsed, when it
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#1732797706570420-488: The Conservative government having been in power for over a decade and presiding over a recession for the second time. At the same time, there was much private debate (made public many years later in the memoirs of senior figures including John Major himself) within the Conservative government as to whether a fifth successive general election victory was a realistic possibility. The new term of parliament saw Major gain
455-562: The Conservatives. With the Conservative government remaining divided on Europe and much more, John Major , in an attempt to silence his critics and opponents, announced his resignation as party leader – but not as Prime Minister – in June 1995, triggering a leadership election. He was opposed by John Redwood , the Secretary of State for Wales , and Major won the leadership election without much difficulty. The Conservative majority of 21 seats
490-566: The Exchequer Norman Lamont had invested heavily in trying to keep it there, adjusting interest rates four times in one day as a desperate measure, an event which became known as Black Wednesday , leaving the Conservative government's reputation for economic excellence in tatters. Labour was soon ascendant in the opinion polls, and next few years brought a string of heavy defeats for the Conservatives in local council elections and parliamentary by-elections, with both Labour and
525-640: The Tories in a by-election . Major finally called an election for 9 April 1992 which ended the first Major ministry. In a surprise to most pollsters, Major won the election, which led to the formation of the Second Major Ministry and a fourth consecutive Conservative term in office. There was widespread media and public debate as to whether the Labour Party could ever win a general election again, as they had failed to do so in 1992, despite
560-574: The ability of Parliament to prise information from governments which are inclined to be defensively secretive where they are most vulnerable to challenge. Scott identified three main areas of democratic concern. First, the Import, Export and Customs Powers (Defence) Act 1939 was emergency legislation passed at the outbreak of the Second World War. It allowed the government to issue regulations that were not subject to resolution by Parliament, for
595-515: The appropriate government permissions, following a 1988 relaxation of export controls. But, this relaxation had not been announced to Parliament. When asked in Parliament whether controls had been relaxed, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry replied incorrectly that they had not. Matrix Churchill was contacted by HM Customs and Excise , under suspicion of exporting arms components to Iraq without permission. Although it had this permission,
630-469: The autumn of 1990 deepened during 1991, with unemployment standing at nearly 2.5 million by December 1991, compared to 1.6 million just 18 months earlier. Despite this, Tory support in the opinion polls remained relatively strong, with any Labour lead now being by the narrowest of margins, although Labour still made some gains at the expense of the Tories in local elections, and seized the Monmouth seat from
665-419: The certificates were intended to protect the ministers and civil servants who had written the communications, rather than the public interest. Scott says: The government is entirely frank in its desire to continue using "class" claims in order to protect communications between ministers and civil servants from disclosure in litigation. One argument put forward is that, unless these communications are protected,
700-413: The difficulty of extracting from departments the required documents (some 130,000 of them in all) and notes that Customs and Excise could not find out what Ministry of Defence export policy was, and that intelligence reports were not passed on to those who needed to know. The Economist commented that "Sir Richard exposed an excessively secretive government machine, riddled with incompetence, slippery with
735-465: The duration of the emergency, which made it a criminal offence to export particular goods to particular countries. While the Act should have been lapsed in 1945, it remained in force. It was modified in 1990 so as to become part of the Import and Export Control Act 1990 . The second area was the failure of ministerial accountability; the government had failed to uphold the principle that "for every action of
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#1732797706570770-514: The end of 1992 – quickly began to fall. It had fallen below 2,500,000 within two years of the recession's end, and by the end of 1996 it was below the 2,000,000 mark. Freed from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the British economy outperformed the rest of the continent for the first time in a generation. However, the strong economic recovery failed to make much difference to the dismal Conservative performance in
805-450: The government denied it, in accordance with its most recently announced policy on the matter. Matrix Churchill's directors were prosecuted in 1991 by Customs and Excise for breaching export controls. The trial did not go well for the government. The trial judge overturned the government's use of public interest immunity certificates intended to suppress some critical evidence (purportedly on grounds of national security). The court required
840-431: The government to hand over these materials to the defence. The trial collapsed when former minister Alan Clark admitted he had been 'economical with the actualité ' in answer to parliamentary questions regarding what he knew about export licenses to Iraq. The Scott Report represents possibly the most exhaustive study produced to that date of the individual responsibility of ministers to Parliament. Scott comments on
875-487: The highest quality of their kind in the world. They were " dual use " machines that could be used to manufacture weapons including artillery shells and parts for medium range missiles. As one of the other directors claimed to have been working for the British intelligence services, the Ministry of Defence advised Matrix Churchill on how to apply for export licences of materials that could be used to make munitions in such
910-485: The necessary candour between ministers and civil servants will suffer. I have to say that I regard this "candour" argument … as unacceptable. The publication of the report was seen by many as the nadir of the Second Major ministry . Prior to the report's publication, those ministers who were criticised were given the opportunity to comment and request revisions. The 1,806-page report was published at 3:30pm, along with
945-570: The next Leader of the Conservative Party) lose their seats and the loss of all Conservative seats in Wales and Scotland ; the Conservatives subsequently suffered their worst general election result of the twentieth century and their place in government was taken by Labour , led by Tony Blair , after four successive parliamentary terms of Conservative Party rule. The Conservatives did not return to government until 2010 , and did not win
980-451: The opinion polls. Labour leader John Smith died of a sudden heart attack in May 1994 and was succeeded by Tony Blair , who continued the modernisation process of the party which began under Smith's predecessor Neil Kinnock , by branding the party as: "New Labour", and by the end of that year the opinion polls were showing Labour support as high as 60% – putting them more than 30 points ahead of
1015-623: The original company being known as Walter Tattler Ltd. In 1989, as the result of a debt settlement, it was acquired by "Iraqi interests" for nothing. New directors were appointed including two who worked for the Iraqi security services and the company began shipping components for Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programme . According to the International Atomic Energy Authority , its products found in Iraq were among
1050-553: The report was classified as secret. In the late 1980s, Matrix Churchill , a British ( Coventry ) aerospace quality machine tools manufacturer that had been bought by the Iraqi government, was exporting machines used in weapons manufacture to Iraq. According to the International Atomic Energy Authority , the products later found in Iraq were among the highest quality of their kind in the world. They were 'dual use' machines that could be used to manufacture weapons parts. Such exports are subject to government control, and Matrix Churchill had
1085-503: The report's criticisms. In contrast, according to senior Labour MP Robin Cook , the opposition were given just two hours to read the million-plus words, during which scrutiny they were supervised and prevented from making copies of the report. Finally, the Prime Minister, John Major , stated that a vote "against" the Government would be in effect a vote of no confidence , ensuring that Conservative MPs would not vote against, while
Scott Report - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-491: The rule of Saddam Hussein . The scandal contributed to the growing dissatisfaction with the Conservative government of John Major and the atmosphere of sleaze that contributed to the electoral landslide for Tony Blair 's Labour Party at the 1997 general election . The whole affair also highlighted the weakness of the constitutional convention of individual ministerial accountability, leading to its codification as
1155-438: The truth and willing to mislead Parliament". The report characterised the nature of the government as: The main objectives of governments are the implementation of their policies and the discomfiture of opposition; they do not submit with enthusiasm to the restraints of accountability … governments are little disposed to volunteer information that may expose them to criticism … The enforcement of accountability depends largely on
1190-508: Was gradually eroded by a string of by-election defeats as well as the defection of one MP to Labour, and by the turn of 1997 the Conservatives were without a majority in the House of Commons . Major left it until the last possible moment before calling a general election, finally holding it on Thursday, 1 May 1997. He pinned his hopes of election success on a six-week campaign exposing New Labour's policies to scrutiny, as well as pointing towards
1225-492: Was revealed that the company had been advised by the government on how to sell arms to Iraq. Several of the directors were eventually paid compensation. Matrix Churchill was an engineering company based in Coventry , with expertise in both the design and manufacture of precision machine tools. Established in 1913 by Walter Tattler and his brother in law Sir Harry Harley, the company had its origins in gauge and tool manufacture,
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