Blair to end 'sofa' style of decision making

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced an end to the informal “sofa” style of government meetings in the wake of the Butler report.

The premier told MPs that in any future situation similar to 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 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 was opening a commons debate on Iraq and the Butler report yesterday. He said that a senior Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) officer had been appointed to review the Butler inquiry’s findings, one of which was that cash cuts had meant that intelligence was no longer properly reviewed, or “validated”, by experienced officers.

And Mr Blair told MPs that any future presentation of intelligence would separate JIC assessments from the British government’s own political case for war.

Blair vigorously defended his case for going to war, saying: “The intelligence … really left little doubt about Saddam and WMD. That was the issue.”

Mr Blair accepted he had made mistakes, adding: “Of course, which is why I said at the very beginning that these are the things that I believe that the Butler report has identified that we should change.

“I fully accept those things. What I do not accept is that it was a mistake to go to war. I still think it was the right thing to do.”

Britain's Tory leader Michael Howard disappointed some Tory MPs with his response to the premier. The Conservative leader told Mr Blair that the Butler report confirmed intelligence reports on Saddam’s WMD were “sporadic, patchy, little and limited”.

The Conservative leader went on: “You told the country that the basis of the intelligence was extensive, detailed and authoritative. That was wrong. Why did you say that to the country?”

But Mr Howard’s complaints were blunted as he made clear he still supported British involvement in the conflict.

The Prime Minister also announced an interim replacement for John Scarlett as head of the JIC.

William Ehrman, currently deputy JIC chair and director general for defence and intelligence at the Foreign Office, will take over, as Mr Scarlett becomes chief of MI6 next month.

A full-time replacement will be announced next year.

Labour rebels last night forced a vote on a technicality at the end of the Iraq debate.

The motion was easily defeated, by a margin of 214 to 41, with 30 Labour backbenchers joining two Tories, two Liberal Democrats and seven nationalists in the anti-war lobby.