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 Previous delays have been variously ascribed to U.S. sensitivities
about the publication of exchanges between then President George W.
Bush and ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair to the need to allow right of
reply to anyone criticized in the report.
Publication of the Chilcot Report has become politically charged
ahead of May's national election, expected to be the closest in a
generation with the ruling Conservatives neck and neck with the
opposition Labour party.
Political analysts say any criticism of Labour, which was in power
at the time of the 2003 Iraq war, could damage the party's electoral
chances.
The investigation, headed by former civil servant John Chilcot, was
set up six years ago to learn lessons from the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq, which ousted Saddam Hussein, and its aftermath.
It was initially expected to take a year, but a letter from Chilcot
to Prime Minister David Cameron this week said the report would
still take "some further months" to complete, citing the need to
give those criticized in it time to respond.
"I therefore see no realistic prospect of delivering our report to
you before the general election in May," he said in the letter
published on the inquiry's website on Wednesday.
Chilcot's letter prompted fierce political criticism.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats,
the junior government coalition partner and the only major party to
oppose the war, wrote to Chilcot on Wednesday saying that the longer
the delay, the less confidence the public would have in the report.
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"If the findings are not published with a sense of immediacy, there
is a real danger the public will assume the report is being 'sexed
down' by individuals rebutting criticisms put to them by the
Inquiry, whether that is the case or not," he wrote.
The phrase echoed an accusation made by the BBC at the time that
Blair had "sexed up" a report on Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction to bolster support for going to war. Subsequent
inquiries have since exonerated Blair from that charge.
Cameron responded to Chilcot's letter saying that he would have
liked the report to have been published well before the election,
but that he had to respect the inquiry's independence and accept the
delay.
(Editing by Michael Holden and Stephen Addison)
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