An attempt to force the Government to order a public inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq conflict was rejected by the Court of Appeal today.

The mothers of two British soldiers killed in Iraq had challenged the Government’s refusal to hold an independent inquiry.

But this morning the court dismissed their claim that the Government was under an implied obligation to hold an independent inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the "right to life".

Three appeal judges said: "We have every sympathy for the applicants. The deaths of their sons must be unbearable. However, the deaths will be investigated in detail.

"The only question which will not be investigated is the invasion question, namely whether the Government took reasonable steps to be satisfied that the invasion of Iraq was lawful under the principles of international law."

The case was brought by Beverley Clarke, mother of Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, and Rose Gentle, mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle.

Trooper Clarke, 19, from Staffordshire, was one of two soldiers who died in March 2003 in a "friendly fire" incident west of Basra. Fusilier Gentle, 19, from Glasgow, of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, died in June 2004 in an improvised explosive device attack on British vehicles in Basra.

Mrs Gentle said she was disappointed by today’s ruling, but added: "It really doesn’t surprise me. We could try the House of Lords next, but I don’t think very much of British justice."

Phil Shiner, the solicitor for the families, said: "I have assured my clients that we can win this case at The European Court of Human Rights and if we do not get permission to go to the House of Lords that is our next move."

At the centre of the argument over whether the decision to invade Iraq was lawful was the families’ demand for an explanation from the Government as to how 13 pages of "equivocal" advice from the Attorney-General of March 7, 2003 was changed within 10 days to one page of completely unequivocal advice that an invasion would be legal.

Lawyers for the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, argued in court that the decision not to sanction a public inquiry was "entirely reasonable" because four inquiries had already been held into the conflict.

In any event, soldiers deployed in danger zones such as Iraq must accept the risks of the job and were not covered by the UK’s obligations under "right to life" laws, he contended.

Master of the Rolls Sir Anthony Clarke, President of the High Court Queen’s Bench Division Sir Igor Judge and Lord Justice Dyson said in their judgment that the deaths of the soldiers would be investigated through the inquest process but the UK was not obliged to set up an independent inquiry into the lawfulness of the invasion.

"Such an inquiry would inevitably involve, not only questions of international law, but also questions of policy, which are essentially matters for the executive and not the courts," they said.

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