Did Widgery really believe what he wrote?

WHILE the Saville inquiry verdict will come as little surprise to anyone in this country, it must shock many in Britain who, up to now, have seen the actions of their army and judiciary through rose-tinted glasses.

It is particularly appropriate that the public admission and apology came from a Conservative prime minister.

I am not surprised soldiers behaved as they did and then lied about it. But the actions of Lord Widgery in exonerating them was quite another matter – it is difficult to accept he actually believed what he wrote in his tribunal report. It seems a clear case of a member of the establishment defending the indefensible when the reputation of that establishment was under scrutiny. Lord Saville is to be complimented on his verdict, but would he have produced it were he in Lord Widgery’s robes in 1972?