No regrets about publishing Iraq dossier, says Jack Straw

BRITISH Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday declared he did not regret publication of the Government's controversial Iraq dossier.

But he said in future such publications should have their contents questioned more closely.

Mr Straw also repeated that President George Bush and Britain would have taken "yes for an answer" from Saddam Hussein as the United Nations sought to force him to comply with weapons of mass destruction resolutions. The Foreign Secretary's comments came the day after the publication of the Butler Report into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, and as the Tories stepped up their attacks on Prime Minister Tony Blair's credibility as a result.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said the Premier had "misled" the public.

Lord Butler found that intelligence was "seriously flawed" and "open to doubt" and that MI6 reservations about leaks from Iraq were not included in the September 2002 dossier presented by Mr Blair as he made the case for war.

Speaking on the dossier, Mr Straw told reporters at Westminster: "I don't regret we produced it. We produced it as part of greater openness. There were huge demands to produce what became known as the dossier, we thought it entirely reasonable to do so.

"Would we so again, produce a synopsis of the case? I think so. But question its contents." He also defended the UN process leading up to conflict, saying: "I happen to know that President Bush would have taken 'yes' for an answer (from Saddam)."

But Michael Howard stepped up his attack on Mr Blair, saying he had "misled" the country over the Iraq intelligence. When you have such a contrast, such a yawning gap, between the words used by the Prime Minister and the actual intelligence on which his words were meant to be based, then there is a very legitimate question to be asked," he told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show.

"I think he should have come clean with the people. I think he should have told them exactly what the intelligence was.

"The evidence is that he didn't do that, that he misled the country."

Mr Howard also challenged Mr Blair to speak in a Commons debate on Iraq next Tuesday, in which the Tory leader would be at the despatch box.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister would respond to Mr Howard's challenge in due course.

No 10 meanwhile accepted there were lessons to be learned from the Butler Report, which also criticised Mr Blair's informal style of government.

Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "Obviously there are implications within the Butler Report which we will have to reflect on, and the wider system will have to be reflected on.

"We will do so, but do so in a considered way rather than in any knee-jerk way."