Intelligence overhaul needed, admits Blair

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair last night conceded there needed to be a shake-up in the way intelligence could be used in the run-up to war - including an abandonment of his informal "sofa" style of government.

Mr Blair told MPs that in any future situation like the build-up to conflict with Iraq, an ad-hoc war cabinet would be formed to hold minuted meetings, instead of gathering like minds together in his No 10 "den". Such a group would operate "formally as an ad hoc committee of Cabinet," said Mr Blair, after Lord Butler criticised the style of decision-making in Downing Street in his Iraq report last week.

Mr Blair had earlier admitted that as the invasion of Iraq loomed, meetings were held with an informal group involving the Foreign and Defence Secretaries, the Chief of Defence staff, the Chief of MI6 and the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Mr Blair, opening a Commons debate on Iraq and the Butler report, also said a senior Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) officer had been appointed to review the Butler inquiry's findings.