Blair faces Tory attack over naming of Kelly

BRITISH PRIME Minister Tony Blair last night faced a sustained attack from Conservatives over the naming of Iraq mole Dr David Kelly.

Mr Blair insists he did not sanction the leak and has urged opponents to wait for Lord Hutton's report on Dr Kelly's death.

But Tory leader Michael Howard last night published a 50-page dossier intended to undermine Mr Blair's credibility.

In a foreword, the Tory leader said it did not prejudge Lord Hutton's inquiry but simply gave voters the "raw facts".

"It is clearly now vital that as much information as possible is made available to the public about the role of the Prime Minister and others in the 'circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly'," he wrote.

"I hope that this compendium will contribute to a greater public understanding of, and debate about, these tragic events in the run up to the publication of Lord Hutton's report."

The government scientist was found dead at a beauty spot after being outed as the source for hotly disputed BBC claims that Number 10 "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq.

In the aftermath, Mr Blair told journalists travelling abroad with him he had "emphatically not" authorised the leak.

Mr Blair stood by that when repeatedly questioned about his role at a ferocious Prime Minister's Questions yesterday.

However, Mr Howard says that does not tally with evidence from Kevin Tebbit, top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence.

The strategy that gave clues to Dr Kelly's identity and the decision to confirm his name to journalists were taken in Number 10, Mr Tebbit told the Hutton inquiry.

That has been seized on by the Tory leader who today told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show it was "impossible to reconcile" the two accounts.

"If Lord Hutton comes to the conclusion that what Sir Kevin Tebbit said to the inquiry was correct, it is very difficult to see how what Mr Blair told the journalists on the plane can have been the truth," he said.

Mr Howard also repeated his call for publication of the government's late submission to the inquiry.

Lord Hutton yesterday revealed other major players in the inquiry, including the BBC and Dr Kelly's own family, had made similar submissions which were also being kept private for now.

Mr Howard said: "I hope very much that Mr Blair, and I'm going to be writing to him today about this, will give an undertaking that he will try and persuade Lord Hutton to release that information as soon as possible, perhaps at the same time the inquiry report is published, so that everybody can see those late submissions."