‘Substantial rewrite’ of dossier authorised

DOWNING STREET authorised a “substantial rewrite” of the British government’s Iraqi weapons dossier in the run-up to its publication, according to evidence presented yesterday to the inquiry into the death of the government scientist David Kelly.

Documents released to the inquiry showed that it was decided that the dossier should be restructured “as per TB’s discussion”, an apparent reference to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The inquiry, headed by Lord Hutton, also heard how Mr Blair himself chaired crisis talks in No 10 after it emerged that Dr Kelly could be the source of a BBC story claiming the dossier had been “sexed up” to strengthen the case for war. Mr Blair made clear that he believed Dr Kelly should give evidence in public to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.

The inquiry saw further documents which showed that Downing Street officials saw themselves as being locked in a “game of chicken” with the BBC in which the corporation needed to be forced to back down.

The inquiry is investigating how Dr Kelly apparently came to take his own life after being identified as the source of the BBC’s story.

A key claim in the BBC story was that the dossier was “transformed” in the week before its publication on September 24, at the behest of Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell.

The inquiry was shown an e-mail from Mr Campbell to the No 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell, dated September 5, disclosing a substantial rewriting of the dossier.

It said: “Re dossier, substantial rewrite with JS and Julian M in charge, which JS will take to US next Friday, and be in shape Monday thereafter. Structure as per TB’s discussion. Agreement that there has to be real intelligence material in their presentation.”

JS apparently referred chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee John Scarlett. Julian Miller was the chief of the assessment staff at Cabinet Office.

The inquiry has already heard that it was after that the controversial claim that some Iraqi weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes was included in the dossier for the first time in a draft dated September 10 or 11.

The inquiry also saw an e-mail from Mr Powell to Mr Scarlett, dated September 17, acknowledging that there was no evidence in the dossier of any “imminent threat” from Iraq.

“The dossier is good and convincing for those who are prepared to be convinced,” he noted.

The inquiry also heard how Mr Blair was closely involved in managing events after Dr Kelly came forward to admit he had had an unauthorised meeting with BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, who broke the story.

The inquiry is due to take further evidence on the dossier when Mr Campbell gives evidence today.