British Prime Minister Tony Blair will take the rare step of appearing before a judicial inquiry which begins investigating the suicide of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly later this month.
Mr Blair, already suffering a collapse in public trust over his case for war in Iraq, will be grilled by inquiry head Lord Hutton about how Dr Kelly came to be named as the source of a BBC report that Britain exaggerated the weapons threat from Iraq.
In a preliminary hearing today, Lord Hutton insisted he would would not be swayed by either side of an acrimonious stand-off between the British government and its public broadcaster.
"It is I and I alone who will decide what witnesses will be called," Lord Hutton said after opening the hearing with a minute's silence for Dr Kelly, a softly-spoken scientist who took his life after finding himself at the heart of the government-BBC row.
"At some stage...I propose to ask the prime minister and the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Geoff Hoon, to give evidence," Lord Hutton said.
Mr Blair has already agreed to appear and has even offered to break off his Caribbean holiday, if necessary, to give evidence.
As well as Mr Blair and Mr Hoon, Lord Hutton said he would also call the prime minister's communications chief Mr Alastair Campbell - who has denied charges that he pressured intelligence services to "sex up" a dossier on the threat posed by Iraq.
The government has said Lord Hutton's inquiry will focus tightly on events leading up to Dr Kelly's death. But opposition politicians want a broader remit, looking at the underlying case for Mr Blair's decision to join the US invasion of Iraq.