MPs' report clears Campbell

The foreign affairs committee today published its keenly-anticipated report entitled The Decision To Go To War In Iraq.

Made up of six Labour MPs, three Tories and one Liberal Democrat, and chaired by Labour's Donald Anderson, the committee included some stinging criticisms of the way the Government made its case for going to war, including the drawing-up of two key dossiers.

September dossier

The all-party foreign affairs committee concluded that the key Government dossier on Iraqi weapons - which formed the basis of the case for going to war - was "probably as complete and accurate" as intelligence chiefs could make it.

However, their verdict was tempered by their finding that it contained "undue emphases for a document of its kind". Members of the committee declared today that the "jury was still out" on the full accuracy of the dossier.

The MPs also claimed that its language was "more assertive" than usual and said there was a value in sticking to the old approach of putting caution first.

The criticisms centred on two main areas - the late insertion to the dossier of the key claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) ready to be fired within 45 minutes, and the claim that Saddam had tried to get uranium from the African state of Niger.

The MPs found that Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell did not order the insertion of the 45-minute claim - the key claim against him made by the BBC. This ruling saw the committee split along party lines, as did another key finding that Campbell did not "seek to exert improper influence" on the drafting of the dossier.

The 45-minute claim "did not warrant the prominence given to it", the MPs said, calling for a full explanation from the Government.

The MPs were also critical about the Niger uranium claim - an allegation now widely believed to have been based on faulty intelligence.

This "should have been qualified to reflect the uncertainty", the MPs added. They called on ministers to declare whether they "still consider the September dossier" to be accurate in what it said about uranium.

In a significant passage, the committee found that "continuing disquiet and unease about the claims made in the September dossier are unlikely to be dispelled unless more evidence of Iraq's WMD programmes come to light".

Verdict

The findings, on first sight, appear good news for Campbell, who has consistently denied the central charge that he ordered the "sexing up" of the September dossier, including highlighting the 45-minute claim.

They also deliver a blow to the BBC, which has adopted an aggressive stance in defence of the original story by Andrew Gilligan on Radio 4's Today programme, insisting the corporation was right to broadcast the allegations.

Campbell's opponents will make much of the fact that he had to depend on the committee's in-built Labour majority for the verdict in his favour. However, close reading of today's report reveals that the four opposition MPs on the committee did not seek to find Campbell guilty over the dossier, only to reach a "not proven" verdict.

The 'dodgy dossier'

The committee unsurprisingly reserves much of its strongest criticism for the second "dodgy" dossier published in February just a month before the outbreak of the war.

The dossier, memorably described as a "complete Horlicks" by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, copied huge chunks of material taken from a 12-year-old academic research paper.

The MPs said it was "badly handled, and was misrepresented as to its provenances and was thus counter-productive". They approvingly quoted former foreign secretary Robin Cook, who labelled the dossier a "glorious spectacular own goal".

They added: "The furore over the process by which the document was assembled and published diverted attention from its substance. This was deeply unfortunate because the information it contained was important."

The committee stopped short of accusing Tony Blair, who used the "dodgy dossier" as the basis of a statement to MPs, of misleading parliament.They said the Prime Minister did not know about the "provenance" of the document - but added that he "misrepresented its status and thus inadvertently made a bad situation worse."

The MPs urged that, in future, no such document was published or presented to MPs without it being "signed off " by a Foreign Office minister.

The committee also urged " clarity" over who was responsible for shadowy groups within the government-such as the Coalition Information Centre, the body set up by Alastair Campbell to communicate the Government's case about the war.

Verdict

The findings over the dodgy dossier would have been worse for Campbell and his spin doctors had he not already admitted responsibility for it.

As it was, the MPs had to content themselves with adding to what was already a long list of colourful attacks on the document such as those already levelled by Mr Cook and Mr Straw. Their findings had no repercussions for the BBC.

However, they will add to a general sense of public unease over the arguments employed by the government to advance its case over the justification for setting British troops into battle.