New inquiry re-opens British weapons claim controversy

By COLIN BROWN

LONDON - Lord Butler has dropped a bombshell on Downing Street by reopening the investigation into whether Prime Minister Tony Blair deliberately misled Britain over the claim that Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

The Prime Minister’s key advisers are horrified that Lord Butler has reopened damaging charges against Mr Blair and Alastair Campbell, his former Director of Communications, on which they were exonerated by the Hutton Inquiry.

The Hutton inquiry - which was widely condemned as a whitewash - cleared the Prime Minister, senior Cabinet ministers and Mr Campbell of the allegation that they "sexed up" the dossier of September, 2002.

It was expected that the Butler inquiry would produce another cover up.

It was thought it would limit its investigation into the flawed intelligence, which led Mr Blair to claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

However, the Independent has learned that the Butler inquiry is now delving into highly damaging allegations of a "spinning operation" by Number Ten to regional newspapers on the day the report on the 45-minute claim was published.

The former Cabinet Secretary has written to the editors of a number of provincial newspapers asking whether Downing Street officials were responsible for briefing about Saddam’s ability to use weapons of mass destruction against British targets, such as Cyprus, in 45 minutes.

Lord Butler’s letter states: "One of the issues the review committee is exploring is the use of the intelligence in the ’Dossier’ on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction published on 24th September 2002.

One aspect of this is any action taken by the Government to guide the media towards reporting particular aspects of the Dossier.

"In that context, it would be very helpful to the committee to know whether you or your reporters were briefed by representatives of the Government about the Dossier in the period immediately prior to its publication and whether, post-publication, you were guided to report particular aspects, such as the statement that some chemical and biological weapons were deployable by Iraq within 45 minutes of an order to use them."

Clare Short, who has been a leading critic of Mr Blair after she resigned from the Cabinet in protest at the war and its aftermath, last night revealed she had urged Lord Butler to investigate the spinning operation in evidence in private to his committee.

Ms Short said: "It looks as though Butler is doing a serious job and this is very important, both to get to the truth on Iraq but also because I believe British constitutional structures are crumbling.

"They asked to see lots of people informally at the beginning. I agreed to do so. I am very pleased this is what is going on. We will see what the final outcome is, but it looks as though, when people said Butler would be a gnat, it might not be.

"It might put its finger on some very important questions. We thought Hutton would look at these allegations, not just on Kelly but the way all the decisions were made. It now looks as though Butler is doing that."

It is believed that Lord Butler’s committee has been told by some journalists from regional newspapers that they received the dossier with the 45-minute claim highlighted in yellow pen by Downing Street.

Opposition leader Michael Howard refused to co-operate with the Butler inquiry, and Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, protested its remit was too narrow when it was set up in February.

However, a Howard aide said last night the widening of the Butler inquiry to cover the handling of the 45-minute claim was a "huge banana skin" for the Blair Government.

"We understand that some journalists were given the dossier with the 45-minute claim highlighted in yellow pen," said the source.

"That didn’t come out in the Hutton inquiry. It is very significant because it was never really established by the Hutton inquiry why it was given such prominence by the newspapers. It has never been adequately explained.

"It brings Campbell and the Prime Minister back into the frame, and it raises questions about the Joint Intelligence Committee claim that it had ownership of the dossier. This reopens the whole question of how Downing Street took ownership by the way it was spun to the media."

It was also reported yesterday in the Observer that Lord Butler has written to Mohamed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), investigating the claim, also supported by Britain, that Saddam tried to secure uranium from Niger, a charge discredited when it was found documents had been forged.

The terms of reference for the Butler inquiry were to investigate the intelligence coverage available on WMD programmes, the accuracy of intelligence on Iraqi WMD and any discrepancies between that intelligence and the findings of the Iraqi Survey Group.

Its members include Sir John Chilcot, field Marshal Lord Inge, Michael Mates MP, a Conservative member of the Prime Minister’s intelligence committee, and its Labour chairman, Ann Taylor, a former chief whip.

It is expected to report by the summer recess of Parliament at the end of July.

The Government is believed to have rushed forward two by-elections to 15 July last week to avoid further damage from the fall-out of its findings.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3575183&thesection=news&thesubsection=world