LONDON, July 30 (KUNA) -- Former UK deputy prime minister Lord Prescott was appearing before the Iraq Inquiry Friday, it was announced.
He will be the final witness in the current round of public hearings, although there could be further evidence sessions in the autumn, the inquiry Secretariat said.
Lord Prescott is expected to be asked about how the Cabinet came to support britain joining the US in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
As deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2007, he was acutely aware of the divisions among ministers and Labour MPs about the military action that toppled Saddam Hussein, observers said.
Lord Prescott admitted in an interview in December that he himself now has doubts about the war.
He told the New Statesman magazine: "I do wonder, looking back now, having the privilege of discussing with Tony (Blair) about all this - how did I then go along?" He also acknowledged that former attorney general Lord Goldsmith - who at first ruled military action was unlawful but changed his mind weeks before the invasion - was troubled by the conflict.
Lord Prescott said: "If you say, 'Was Goldsmith a happy man about this?' No, he wasn't. That's quite different from saying, 'No, I'm sorry, my view is that it's illegal, I'm not supporting it'." Former international development secretary Clare Short claimed in a BBC interview in January that then-chancellor, Finance secretary, Gordon brown only came to support the war on the eve of the invasion after Lord Prescott patched up relations between him and Blair.
The Iraq Inquiry has heard testimony from witnesses including ex-MI5 director general Baroness Manningham-Buller and former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix in this second set of public sessions.
There may be extra hearings in the autumn, when previous witnesses - potentially including Blair and brown - could be recalled to give further evidence.
brown commissioned the inquiry in June last year, giving it a remit to consider the whole period of britain's involvement with Iraq from 2001-09, including the run-up to war, the invasion and its aftermath.
Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot said he hopes to publish his final report around the end of the year. (end).
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