The Iraq war changed the fortunes of all in Whitehall who were most closely involved. Most have seen their reputations suffer. Only a few have seen their’s enhanced. And only a small number are still at the top in Whitehall.

The roles of all the main Whitehall warriors are well known, partly thanks to the inquiries by Lord Hutton and Lord Butler of Brockwell as well as the shelves full of books about the run-up, the war, and its aftermath.

Six of the warriors have written books covering the war (the late Robin Cook, Clare Short, Alastair Campbell, Sir Christopher Meyer, General Sir Mike Jackson; Sir Jeremy Greenstock’s remains unpublished). Tony Blair is writing his memoirs.

Iraq was a seismic event of the type seen once in a generation. The Whitehall warriors can be divided into two groups: the victims and survivors. In the first are most of the politicians and intelligence chiefs. In the second the diplomats and the military.

Three events have determined the subsequent reputations: the arguments over the intelligence; over the legal basis for the war; and the long and bloody aftermath.

Tony Blair was involved in all three, and his standing suffered most.

The biggest damage came from the Hutton inquiry: its public hearings and the disclosure of internal Whitehall e-mails. It exposed not only the murky manoeuvrings that led to the public outing, and then suicide, of the defence scientist David Kelly but also the controversies over the September 2002 dossier.

This dragged Sir Richard Dearlove, then C, head of MI6, and John Scarlett, his successor and then the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, into the public eye. They were accused of allowing their judgments to be clouded by the politicians.

The other main political loser was Alastair Campbell. He left 10 Downing Street in the summer of 2003 to become a sports journalist, charity fundraiser and public speaker, while continuing to defend his corner, notably in his diaries.

Of the other leading politicians involved, Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary at the time, and Geoff Hoon, Defence Secretary, survived under Gordon Brown, as Lord Chancellor and Chief Whip respectively.

Lord Goldsmith, Attorney-General five years ago, faced allegations, which he strongly denied, that he had changed his legal advice to justify military action.

The dissident ministers have had mixed fortunes. Robin Cook, who resigned on the eve of the war, became an independent-minded, but generally loyalist, critic. He died suddenly in August 2005.

Clare Short, who left the Cabinet after the end of the main fighting, became a bitter opponent of the Government, eventually resigning the Labour whip.

Fate has been kinder to most of the diplomats. Sir David Manning, co-ordinator of Iraq policy in 10 Downing Street, went on in 2003 to become a successful British Ambassador in Washington before retiring last year. Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the United Nations envoy and later special representative to Baghdad, has had his candid book suppressed by Jack Straw. But he remains at the heart of the Establishment as director of the Ditchley Foundation.

Iraq has been a saga with few heroes, few villains; but many reputations badly tarnished.

Peter Riddell is the author of Hug Them Close: Blair, Clinton, Bush and the Special Relationship

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