The memo notes there had been a shift in the two men's thinking on Iraq by late January 2003 and that preparing for war was now their priority. "Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," Manning writes. This was despite the fact Blair that had yet to receive advice on the legality of the war from the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, which did not arrive until 7 March 2003 - 13 days before the bombing campaign started.

Now, we have all known about this for a while, but things are about to start happening over the ocean. In today’s Observer, quotes like this appear:

Documents like this raise issues of national embarrassment, not national security. The restoration of public confidence requires this new inquiry to be transparent. Contentious matters should not be kept out of the public domain, even in the run-up to an election.

We can look for more fun to hit the fan in November, when the Dutch government produces its report on intelligence shared with the Dutch by MI5 and MI6.

Read it and weep...