Blair denies running from Hutton report

TONY BLAIR was last night accused of preparing to “run away” from the findings of Lord Hutton’s inquiry.

The British prime minister vowed not to hide from any criticisms in the law lord’s report on the death of Dr David Kelly.

However, Mr Blair again refused to say whether he would face MPs in a full Commons debate on its conclusions.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said it was “absolutely extraordinary” the PM had failed to give the commitment. “The very fact he is refusing now to say whether he’s going to lead in that debate will cause a lot of people to think he’s prepared to run away and that he’s got something to hide,” Mr Howard said.

It was also “extraordinary” MPs had been given no guarantee of a vote at the end of the debate, he added.

However, Mr Blair stressed he would make a statement to MPs and take questions on the day the report was published.

Only then could details of the full debate a week later be decided, the prime minister insisted.

“I can assure you I have no intention of hiding away from this at all,” he said.

“On the contrary, I am enthusiastic about being at long last able to debate these issues on the basis of an objective, independent judgment by a judge rather than speculation.”

Mr Blair and Mr Howard were speaking in TV interviews that came amid mounting political tension over the report.

Lord Hutton is expected to deliver his verdict on the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly’s death within weeks.

The weapons expert’s body was discovered at a beauty spot after he was outed as the source of BBC claims Downing Street sexed-up intelligence on Iraq.

Mr Howard has tried to concentrate attention on Mr Blair’s role in his name becoming public in the run-up to the report’s publication.

The PM told journalists travelling with him in the Far East he had “emphatically not” sanctioned leaking Dr Kelly’s name in the days after the scientist’s death.

However, the Tory leader insists that is contradicted by evidence from Sir Kevin Tebbit, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence.

The media strategy that allowed reporters to guess Dr Kelly’s identity and officials to confirm it was adopted at a meeting in Number 10 chaired by Mr Blair, Sir Kevin told the inquiry.

Mr Blair says that confirming the name once it was made public is quite different to leaking it to the press.

However, Mr Howard said the prime minister’s actions matched the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a leak as “the deliberate disclosure of confidential information”.

“On any plain view of language, what the Government did was to adopt a strategy designed to lead to the disclosure of Dr Kelly’s name,” he said.