Hutton inquiry and Butler review

"The Butler report said more about the shortcomings of Britain's official inquiries than it did about Tony Blair's integrity, writes Alistair Alexander from London"

"I had a strange experience with the Butler report. I changed my mind. In my capacity as secretary of the local Stop the War Coalition I was interviewed by GWR radio within an hour of the report being published, and based upon the quick summary posted on the BBC web page I concluded that it was a whitewash. It said that mistakes were made, and the procedures failed, but no individual was to blame and the Prime Minister acted in good faith. This is pretty much the commentary of the report from the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. However, because I was also being interviewed by the BBC the next morning I decided to read the report in full. I now believe it is a most remarkable document that cannot be entirely taken at face value." http://www.butlerreview.org.uk/report

"The quality of pre-war intelligence will be assessed in a British report published today. The Butler Report will consider what intelligence was available to the UK government about weapons of mass destruction and the accuracy of that intelligence. Last week, US senators published a scathing report about the CIA's assessment of the Iraqi weapons programme. But President George Bush said that although no weapons were found, the US were right to go into Iraq. Do you think the agencies failed to deliver quality intelligence? How should intelligence be gathered and used in future? Send us your views."

"Intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the run–up to war was "seriously flawed" and "open to doubt" Lord Butler's inquiry declared today. The ex–Cabinet Secretary's 200–page report said Prime Minister Tony Blair's September 2002 dossier should not have included its controversial claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy WMD within 45 minutes." See also the key findings of the report at http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.js...

"Lord Butler has shocked Downing Street by reopening the investigation into whether Tony Blair deliberately misled Britain over the claim that Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. The Butler inquiry was expected to produce another cover-up, limiting its investigation into the flawed intelligence which led Mr Blair to claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But The Independent has learnt that the Butler inquiry is now delving into highly damaging allegations of a "spinning operation" by Number 10 to regional newspapers on the day the report on the 45-minute claim was published."

"Lord Hutton yesterday said Tony Blair had not been summoned back for cross-examination by his inquiry because it would have been inappropriate for him to face the resulting "glaring headlines". Lord Hutton said: "If I had brought the Prime Minister back to be cross-examined, I would have considered it as simply playing to the gallery - 'Here is the man who is not afraid to bring back the Prime Minister'. I did not think it was appropriate to do that." He added: "Various allegations would have been put to the Prime Minister with glaring headlines about them. I did not think it was appropriate to do that." "

"Lord Hutton is due to make his first public comments since he announced the findings of his inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly. The retired judge is being questioned by a committee of MPs as part of their investigation into public inquiries. The questioning is likely to focus on the implications of the report for how governments are run, the way a mass of Whitehall documents was published on the internet and whether judges are the right figures to head up such inquiries. He may also be asked about progress in the police inquiry into how parts of his report were leaked to the Sun newspaper."

"Lord Hutton is to appear at the public administration select committee this week to defend his report on Dr Kelly's death. Here is some important material that will not be covered. On 16 March 2004, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner announced that he would not reopen the inquest into scientist David Kelly's death. The coroner further attempted to stave off objections by anticipating that there would be differences of expert opinion even with a full inquest, and by expressing the wish that the widow and family be allowed to grieve in peace. He failed to note, however, that many of those concerns are not trivial differences of opinion but sound observations of incomplete and inconclusive evidence. Suspicion that the body was moved, or that Dr. Kelly was physically unable to swallow pills, or that a minimal amount of blood was present at the scene, casts serious doubt on a finding of suicide."

"Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly cost taxpayers more than £2.5m, it has been announced. The inquiry spent £1.68m itself and the remaining money was spent by government departments involved in the inquiry on hiring lawyers and other expenses. External advice, including lawyers' fees and research costs, took up £990,303 of the inquiry's own bill. Among the other major costs for the inquiry itself was the £146,000 spent on staffing the inquiry and the £155,000 in profession fees such as audio/video links in the inquiry courtrooms at the Royal Courts of Justice."

"The committee of MPs who grilled Dr David Kelly shortly before his death are questioning the government's lack of cooperation with its Iraq inquiry. The committee members complained that while their request to question John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, and look at particular papers was refused, he appeared before Hutton and the documents were later published on the internet. Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay, a committee member, said: "We're really at the crossroads - either we go into decline or select committees look for the soft options in terms of their future inquiries. "There can be no greater duty of examining the case, even if it is retrospectively, whether or not the government exaggerated the case presented to Parliament for people going to war. FAC chairman Donald Anderson said his committee "meant business" to sort this out. He said it was clear national security had not been put at risk by people appearing before the Hutton Inquiry. "