Ukip launch Chilcot Iraq inquiry petition against 'political establishment cover-up'

A petition demanding the immediate publication of an inquiry into the Iraq War has been launched by Ukip.

It follows news the Chilcot Inquiry shall not be published until after the UK general election on 7 May.

Sir John Chilcot's investigation into the reasons Britain went to war in Iraq in 2003 has taken six years and cost millions of pounds.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage blamed an "establishment cover-up" for the long wait for final publication.

The party's petition went live on the web on 21 Januar and quickly received 10,000 signatures.

Farage said: "It beggars belief that here we are, four years after the end of the Chilcot Inquiry, still waiting for the report. It smacks of an establishment cover-up, and one which I suggest the British public will see right through."

Ukip defence spokesperson Mike Hookem MEP said: "The war in Iraq, which led to our new enemies Isis, cost around £10bn in public money, and far too much in blood. The British public must know, immediately, why we got involved in the first place, and why it went so horribly wrong."

A major bone of contention delaying publication of the Chilcot report has been negotiations on making public details of private talks between former Prime Minister Tony Blair and ex-US president George Bush.

Chilcot has now revealed he will publish 29 notes between the two "subject to very small number of essential redactions". He has been called before MPs to explain the "incomprehensible" delays to the report.