Sketchup: Jack Straw at the Iraq inquiry Part II

Katie Fraser | 10:36 UK time, Tuesday, 9 February 2010

A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.

Jack Straw returned to the Chilcot inquiry to answer questions about the legal advice he was given regarding UN Security Council resolution 1441.

Andrew Gimson in the Telegraph says he is impressed by the former foreign secretary's ability to say precisely the opposite to what he really means:

"The former Foreign Secretary said 'with great respect' when he was not being respectful, 'I'm sorry' when he was not being sorry, and 'I fully understand the point you're making' when his purpose was to confuse and confound whatever that point might be."

According to the Guardian's Simon Hoggart, there's no mistaking Mr Straw's earlier profession as a lawyer, watching him effortlessly evade unwanted enquiries:

"It was fascinating to watch. They should run it on BBC4 and call it Sophistry Shoot-Out, or Strictly Come Wriggling. 'How's Jack going to get out of this? Oh, and a dazzling logical back-flip there - the judges love it, the crowd are going wild...'"

In the Independent, Simon Carr is surprised by the committee's tendency to talk over Mr Straw:

"It was like watching nice girls fighting, in that slappy way they have. There was some hair-pulling."

Elsewhere, the public accounts committee was discussing BBC sports coverage with some of the corporation's chiefs including director general Mark Thompson. The Daily Mail's Quentin Letts says that the session "descended into kick boxing. Highly watchable violence. A lot more fun than the snooker you get on BBC TV so many nights."

At the University of East London, David Cameron was giving a speech on "rebuilding trust in politics", or, as many received it, an attack on Gordon Brown. The Times' Ann Treneman, who was there, was confused by his constant references to him being of a "new generation" as he sat in front of an audience of students.