Campbell faces Hutton Inquiry questions
Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell was today giving evidence to the inquiry into Dr David Kelly’s death.
BBC reports that Mr Campbell “sexed up” intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to war sparked the furious row with Downing Street.
He demanded an apology after being accused of publishing a claim that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes against the wishes of intelligence agents.
Weapons expert Dr Kelly apparently killed himself after being outed as the source of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan’s report.
Mr Campbell was facing close questioning about his involvement in the publication of the British government’s dossier on Iraq last September.
The Downing Street media chief was also expected to be quizzed about his part in the decision to confirm Dr Kelly as the mole.
Mr Campbell is widely expected to step down once Lord Hutton’s inquiry delivers its verdict.
His appearance comes after evidence yesterday revealed No 10 ordered a “substantial rewrite” of the dossier.
Gilligan quoted his then unknown source as saying the document had been “transformed” ahead of publication.
Documents released to the inquiry show it was redrafted “as per TB’s discussion” – an apparent reference to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The inquiry was shown an e-mail from Mr Campbell to the No 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell, dated September 5.
“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,” it said.
JS apparently referred to John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, while 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.
An e-mail from Mr Powell to Mr Scarlett, dated September 17, acknowledged 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 document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat from Saddam .... We will need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim that we have evidence that he is an imminent threat.”
Lord Hutton also heard how Mr Blair himself chaired crisis talks after it emerged that Dr Kelly could be the source of the BBC reports.
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, documents showed.
Mr Blair made clear that he believed that Dr Kelly should give evidence in public to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee after coming forward to admit an unauthorised meeting with Gilligan.
