The BBC report that Downing Street falsified an intelligence document to promote the case for war in Iraq would have warranted his resignation if it were true, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has told the Hutton Inquiry, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, in London
Making his long-awaited appearance at the inquiry in London yesterday, Mr Blair said the claim that his government had "sexed up" an Iraqi weapons dossier was an attack, not only on the office of Prime Minister, but on "the credibility, I felt, of the country".
The BBC's Today programme reported on May 29th last that a senior official involved in compiling the Iraq dossier said Downing Street had inserted a claim that Baghdad could activate weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, probably knowing that the claim was wrong, and against the advice of the intelligence services.
"If the allegation had been true, it would have merited my resignation," Mr Blair said. Describing the claim as "a very, very serious charge", he told the inquiry he was still seeking a retraction from the BBC.
"This was an attack that went to the heart of, not just the office of Prime Minister but also the way our intelligence services operated. It went in a sense to the credibility, I felt, of the country, never mind the Prime Minister," he said.
About 100 anti-war demonstrators protested outside London's Royal Courts of Justice as Mr Blair arrived to give evidence. Security was tight and a helicopter hovered noisily overhead.
About 300 people, both members of the public and journalists, waited for hours, some of them overnight, in the hope of getting one of the limited number of places at the hearing. One British newspaper described the Hutton inquiry as "the hottest ticket in town".
Generally, it was felt that Mr Blair had performed up to his usual standard for such occasions. As expected, he was assured and confident on issues such as the faults he detected in the BBC's coverage and on the gravity of the charges laid against the British government on the Today programme.
However, he seemed less sure of his ground as he outlined his reaction to the decision of Dr David Kelly to admit that he had briefed the BBC reporter, Andrew Gilligan, prior to the broadcast of May 29th.
Mr Blair felt that Dr Kelly's decision to come forward had placed the government in "an extremely difficult situation".
If they withheld the scientist's name, they could be accused of a cover-up, but at the same time they were not sure that he was the primary source of Mr Gilligan's more serious allegations.
The inquiry chairman, Lord Hutton, queried the method used for releasing Dr Kelly's name, which was indirectly revealed to the media by means of a set of questions and answers prepared for the Ministry of Defence press office. He asked the Prime Minister if it "might have been a more appropriate procedure" simply to name Dr Kelly in a press statement.
Mr Blair's extremely close involvement in the moves to release Dr Kelly's name was confirmed in his evidence.
He gave details of a conversation with the BBC chairman, Mr Gavyn Davies, on July 7th, where he revealed that a possible source for Mr Gilligan's story had come forward.
Mr Davies, who gave evidence yesterday after Mr Blair, said he had not appreciated the full implications of Mr Gilligan's original story until almost a month later when it was the centrepiece of an extremely sharp public attack on the BBC by the Prime Minister's director of communications, Mr Alastair Campbell.
"This was an extraordinary moment. I felt it was an almost unprecedented attack on the BBC to be mounted by the head of communications at Downing Street. Mr Campbell accused the BBC of lying directly. He accused Mr Gilligan of lying directly. He alleged that the BBC had accused the Prime Minister of lying," Mr Davies said.