The Special Commissions (Dardanelles and Mesopotamia) Act 1916 (6 & 7 Geo. V) was set up to investigate the World War I operations in the Dardanelles Campaign and the Mesopotamian campaign. Following the disasters in Mesopotamia and the Dardanelles in 1916, the recently ousted British Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, demanded a select committee to inquire into the relevant military campaigns. Instead, the new Government appointed a statutory Special Commission, because '"a Government may… prefer to… appoint… an outside element... less likely to be influenced by party bias."