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To: maceng2 who wrote (564)	2/3/2004 2:41:12 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

Climbdown as Blair agrees to a WMD inquiry news.ft.com By James Blitz and Mark Huband in London and Edward Alden in Washington Published: February 2 2004 12:24 \| Last Updated: February 3 2004 0:13 Tony Blair was on Monday night seeking to finalise the terms of a full independent inquiry into the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, conceding the possibility that his chief argument for war may have been wrong. The prime minister bowed to demands for a probe from Labour critics and opposition parties following President George W. Bush's decision to announce an investigation into US prewar intelligence. Monday's climbdown dispelled much of the political boost Mr Blair received last week when he was cleared by Lord Hutton's inquiry, which looked into allegations that Downing Street deliberately included incorrect information in a dossier on Iraq's WMD published in September 2002. Mr Blair is to announce full details of Britain's inquiry at Tuesday's meeting of the Commons liaison committee, at which he will be publicly questioned. There was speculation at Westminster on Monday night that the inquiry would be headed by Lord Butler of Brockwell, former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service between 1988 and 1998. There was also speculation that the team would include the senior representatives of the three main political parties on the Commons intelligence and security committee: Ann Taylor for Labour, Michael Mates for the Conservatives and Alan Beith for the Liberal Democrats. However, Downing Street and the main opposition parties were continuing negotiations over the committee on Monday night. Mr Blair is also understood to have insisted that the inquiry's report should be published before the end of this year, ahead of that commissioned by Mr Bush, which is not expected to report until next year. Monday's announcement amounted to a serious political embarrassment for Mr Blair. On Sunday Lord Falconer, one of the prime minister's closest allies, said "little would be achieved by constantly looking and relooking at what the intelligence shows". The decisions by the US and UK to conduct inquiries into WMD create a bigger electoral hazard for Mr Blair than for Mr Bush, who has neutralised the issue until after November's presidential election. Both reports will be published less than a year before the expected date for the UK general election. Opposition politicians said Mr Bush had badly let down Mr Blair by succumbing to the clamour for a report in the wake of the resignation 10 days ago of David Kay, the head of the Iraq Survey Group. Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said news of the planned US inquiry, which Mr Bush confirmed on Monday, would "put yet more pressure on the British government", adding "Washington is now dictating the British political agenda. The government's satisfaction at the Hutton report may well be short-lived."