Number 10 ‘wanted to strengthen dossier’

BRITISH intelligence agencies were issued with an 11th-hour appeal for more evidence to strengthen Downing Street’s dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, it was disclosed yesterday.

And the Hutton inquiry was also told the intelligence agencies privately concluded that some Iraqi weapons could be deployed in as little as 20 minutes, rather than the more cautious 45-minute estimate in the dossier.

The inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly was told the agencies were asked to come up with more evidence of Iraq's weapons programmes because Downing Street wanted the dossier to be "as strong as possible".