Alastair Campbell: Chilcot report shows ‘no sexing up’ of WMD dossier

Former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell said the Chilcot report is the fourth inquiry to clear him of “sexing up” a Government dossier on Iraq’s supposed arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

While acknowledging that the report had uncovered “many mistakes” in the preparation for war, Mr Campbell said its core findings had “laid to rest” a string of allegations made by Tony Blair’s critics, including the claim that the former PM secretly pledged to join the US in military action at a 2002 meeting with president George Bush in Texas.

In a staunch defence of his former boss, Mr Campbell rejected claims that Mr Blair was “cavalier” about military action, insisting that he did everything he could to prevent war and agonised ceaselessly about its possible consequences.