Bid to block probe into 'Iraq breach'

Downing Street today rejected claims that Tony Blair breached his own ministerial code of conduct over the Government's legal advice on the Iraq war.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman moved swiftly to block demands from MPs for an official inquiry into allegations that the Cabinet was not properly informed.

MPs demanded that Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull launch an immediate investigation into why ministers were not given the Attorney General's full legal opinion on the war.

The ministerial code says that when advice from law officers is included "in papers for the Cabinet", the conclusions may be summarised but "the complete text of the advice should be attached". But former minister Clare Short says she received no copy of Lord Goldsmith's full legal opinion .

In a move critics said was " hairsplitting", No 10 today said the code did not apply because Attorney General Lord Goldsmith gave oral testimony to the Cabinet.

The official spokesman said the two-page written answer given to the Cabinet was not a "paper" in the code's terms. He said the answer to Parliament, which said the war was legal under previous UN resolutions, was Lord Goldsmith's view not formal advice.

But critics seized on a written answer from Mr Blair himself referring to the code's requirements for telling the Cabinet.

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram accused Mr Blair of "breathtaking arrogance", while the Lib-Dems' Sir Menzies Campbell said "on the face of it" the Prime Minister was in breach.