Blair will appear at Kelly inquiry

Tony Blair is ready to interrupt his three-week family holiday in Barbados to appear before the judicial inquiry into the death of Iraq mole David Kelly.

The Prime Minister, who is in the Chinese capital Beijing for talks with prime minister Wen Jiabao, is hopeful the narrowly-focused investigation by Lord Hutton will not take long to complete.

Mr Blair is due to stay in a house belonging to Sir Cliff Richard on the Caribbean island next week with wife Cherie and their children.

The family is expected to leave just days after the end of the Prime Minister's gruelling eight-day trip to the US and Far East, which ends on Thursday.

He has told colleagues he could not be seen to be delaying the progress of Lord Hutton's inquiry while sunning himself on a beach.

Instead, he is ready, if required, to return to Britain to give evidence. Any session featuring Mr Blair as witness would be one of the most eagerly anticipated political events for years.

He would be put on the spot about exactly how much he knew about claims that the Government's September dossier on Iraqi weapons was "sexed up".

Mr Blair would also have to answer questions about the role of Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell, and how the Ministry of Defence confirmed the name of Dr Kelly as the suspected mole to sections of the media.

Mr Blair does not want to suffer the fate of Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, who came under fire today after attending this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone while the furore over Dr Kelly's death raged unabated.

Publicly, the Prime Minister has called for an end to the feud between ministers and the BBC, demanding that all sides end their " recriminations".

But privately he is confident his government, as well as he personally, will come out of Lord Hutton's investigation in a better light than the corporation. It is this belief which saw Mr Blair claim, in a weekend interview with Sky News, that he was confident he knew "what the facts are" even before Lord Hutton begins his probe. The Prime Minister accepts, however, that the reputation of Mr Campbell has been so badly tarnished he may have to quit.

The two men are believed to have discussed Mr Campbell's future at the weekend, agreeing the spin master would stay on, at least for now.

Today Mr and Mrs Blair attended a full-scale military parade where they were greeted by the Chinese prime minister at the Great Hall of the People, off Tiananmen Square.

Mr Blair was going on for further high-level talks aimed at boosting British trade before a dinner hosted by President Hu Jintao. The dinner is seen in China as a "rare honour" for a head of government like Mr Blair, who is not a head of state.

During a day of meetings and photo opportunities, Mr Blair was also holding talks with former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. The Prime Minister was hoping the packed agenda would help him take a step back from his domestic problems and in particular the continuing furore over Dr Kelly's death.

Mr Blair said: "The relationship between Britain and China has strengthened enormously over these past few years. I have got no doubt it will continue to strengthen - both in the economic field and also in the political field as well, where we are working together to solve some of the critical issues that face our world."