MPs clear Campbell amid questioning of WMD claims

MPs have cleared Alastair Campbell of “sexing up” a crucial intelligence report but have agreed that too much credence was put on certain claims about Iraq’s weapons capability.

Noting that investigations in Iraq are still proceeding, the cross-party foreign affairs committee has ruled that claims that Iraq could employ biological or chemical weapons within 45 minutes should not have been played up to such an extent by the government in the run up to the conflict with Iraq.

Contrary to claims made by the BBC, they further found that “Alastair Campbell did not exert or seek to exert improper influence on the drafting of the September dossier”.

The committee’s report stated: “We conclude that the 45 minutes claim did not warrant the prominence given to it in the dossier, because it was based on intelligence from a single, uncorroborated source. We recommend that the Government explain why the claim was given such prominence.”

However, the MPs concluded that it was “wrong for Alastair Campbell or any Special Adviser to have chaired a meeting on an intelligence matter” and recommended that this practice cease.

The foreign affairs committee concluded that in all probability the claims made in the September dossier were “well founded on the basis of intelligence then available". The committee went on to note that the language used in the dossier was “in places more assertive” than that usually reserved for use in intelligence documents of its type.

Today's report made a number of recommendations including that BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s contacts be “thoroughly investigated”.

The MPs were also highly critical of the “plagiarism” of work included in the intelligence briefing dossier without attribution, and of subsequent amendments to the work, which were made without either highlighting the changes or the assent of the author.

Among the recommendations included in the MP’s report was that all documents submitted to parliament to explain foreign policy should be signed off, and where appropriate, include sources and attribution.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called on the BBC to issue an immediate apology, claiming that the BBC had “got it wrong”.

However, BBC director of news Richard Sambrook pointed out that there were big questions to be answered on both the 45-minute claim and on the assertiveness of the language used in the September dossier.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs have called for a full judicial inquiry into the issues surrounding the WMD dossier in September 2002 and a later dossier produced in February 2003.

(SP)