Now while there is no textbook answer to that question, the figures have been released today of the Iraq Inquiry, which are estimated to cost more than £2 million.What makes that estimate figure incredible is that it has only been running for three months in which through its public hearings the panel has taken evidence from senior military commanders, top civil servants and Government ministers past and present.
According to the figures published on the Inquiry website, the spending on expenses for staff, the allowances for the panel of experts and the costs of running the hearings in public will total an estimated £2,237,700 at the end of March. This works out at roughly £26,600 per day (including the weekends).
The largest cost was accumulated by paying the inquiry's secretariat (£795,000), followed by the costs of hiring and running the public hearings at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre right on the doorstep of Westminster Abbey in London SW1 (£588,700) and then the wage remuneration for the five-strong inquiry panel and their advisers (£333,400).
A whopping £197,400 was spent on IT and communications, including the inquiry's (pitiful) website – although this cost did include the webstreaming capabilities and the on sight transcription (which believe me is useful when you’re in the room attending the hearing!).
Set up by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last June, the inquiry is tasked at looking into the eight-year period between the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq until the withdrawal of British combat troops in 2009, and has already heard evidence from Mr Brown himself as well as former PM Tony Blair.
Now while they did not pay for Mr Blair to appear, this does give me the opportunity to show the wonderful cartoon created at the time and published in the Times and allude also to the revelation last week that the Metropolitan Police ran up a bill of £273,000 to provide security for Mr Blair’s appearance on 29 January past.So again the question arises, how much should this inquiry cost?
