London - The Conservatives yesterday called for an investigation into claims that the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, misled parliament over the Sierra Leone arms saga. Shadow foreign secretary Ms Francis Maude wrote to the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, calling for an inquiry into whether Mr Cook broke the Ministerial Code of Conduct - potentially a sackable offence.
According to a new book by BBC journalist Nicholas Jones, Mr Cook misled parliament about the use of prior knowledge of a select committee report into the affair.
Two years ago, it emerged that the Foreign Office had failed to prevent British arms being shipped to Sierra Leone in breach of UN sanctions. A subsequent report by the Commons foreign affairs select committee accused the Foreign Office of an "appalling failure". It emerged that the Foreign Office was supplied with a leaked copy of the report prior to official publication by a committee member, Labour MP Mr Ernie Ross, who later quit the committee.