国际英语新闻：British PM gives evidence to Iraq inquiry

LONDON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday told the Iraq inquiry he had supported the U.S.-led war because Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions.

He was giving evidence for the first time at the inquiry into Britain's role in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Brown insisted that throughout the build-up to war, the Cabinet had been kept fully informed of developments and "I didn't at any point (feel) that I lacked the information that was necessary."

But Brown said that, throughout the discussions, he stressed that military action should only be a last resort, saying that "I was very clear that we had to exhaust all the diplomatic avenues before we could conclude that it was inevitable or impossible to avoid a decision about war."

However, Brown also said the British government had made the "right decision, for the right reasons" to go to war.

As then-chancellor, Brown also denied claims he tried to restrict the funds available to the military in the run-up to the Iraq war.

He told the inquiry that former Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon's assertion that the Treasury was reluctant to provide cash for the conflict was incorrect.

"My role in this was, first of all as chancellor of the exchequer, to make sure that the funding was there for what we had to do," he said.