No 10 authorized dossier rewrite

Aug 18 2003

Downing Street authorized a "substantial rewrite" of the Government's Iraqi weapons dossier in the run-up to its publication, according to evidence presented to the inquiry into the death of the Government scientist David Kelly.

Documents released to the inquiry showed that it was decided that the dossier should be restructured "as per TB's discussion" - an apparent reference to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The inquiry, headed by Lord Hutton, also heard how Mr Blair himself chaired crisis talks in No 10 after it emerged that Dr Kelly could be the source of a BBC story claiming the dossier had been "sexed up" to strengthen the case for war.

The Prime Minister made clear that he believed that Dr Kelly should give evidence in public to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.

The inquiry saw further documents which showed that 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.

The inquiry is investigating how Dr Kelly apparently came to take his own life after being identified as the source of the BBC's story.

A key claim in the BBC story was that the dossier was "transformed" in the week before its publication on September 24 at the behest of Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell.

The inquiry was shown an e-mail from Mr. Campbell to the No 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell, dated September 5, disclosing that the dossier was being substantially rewritten.

It said: "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."

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.