goldsmith i was not leant on the attorney general has again denied being leant on by downing street to make the legal case for invading iraq claims a written answer on the legality of the war was drafted by downing street were wholly unfounded he insisted during stormy lords exchanges lord goldsmith said the answer represented his genuinely held independent view the war was legal the text was released on the eve of a crucial commons vote in which mps backed the invasion of iraq many labour mps have since indicated that the attorney general s answer played a pivotal role in their willingness to back the conflict the government has resisted calls to publish the full advice saying such papers are always kept confidential in the house of lords the attorney general faced a call by former tory lord chancellor lord mackay to now publish the full text of the advice the suggestion was rejected another peer meanwhile lord skidelsky said not to publish the full legal opinion would strengthen the suspicion that the the original text was doctored for public consumption in exactly the same way as the notorious intelligence dossier on weapons of mass destruction last week lord goldsmith said in a statement i was fully involved throughout the drafting process and personally finalised and of course approved the answer he said the answer had been prepared in his office with the involvement of solicitor general harriet harman two of his own officials three foreign office officials a qc christopher greenwood and the then lord chancellor lord irvine of lairg no other minister or official was involved in any way as i have always made clear i set out in the answer my own genuinely held independent view that military action was lawful under the existing un security council resolutions he said the answer did not purport to be a summary of my confidential legal advice to government former foreign secretary robin cook said lord goldsmith s admission that his parliamentary answer was not a summary of his legal opinion suggested parliament may have been misled the attorney general may never have presented his answer as a summary but others certainly did he said what is clear from his statement today is that he does not believe that it was a full accurate summary of his formal opinion tony blair has dismissed questions about the attorney general s advice and said his parliamentary statement had been a fair summary of his opinion that s what he lord goldsmith said and that s what i say he has dealt with this time and time and time again mr blair told his monthly news conference in downing street he refused to answer further questions on the issue on the question of whether such papers have always been kept confidential tory mp michael mates who is a member of the commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the butler inquiry told the bbc that as a