No 10 is blamed for MoD man's sacking

Shadowy forces in Downing Street were today blamed for the sacking of a senior intelligence official who criticised Tony Blair for misleading the public over Iraq.

John Morrison, a former deputy chief of intelligence at the Defence Ministry, has been axed as an adviser to the Commons intelligence and security committee.

Mr Morrison told BBC1's Panorama programme that he could "almost hear the collective raspberry going up around Whitehall" when Mr Blair told MPs in 2002 that the threat from Iraq was "current and serious".

Air Marshal Sir John Walker, a former deputy chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, today blamed Downing Street for Mr Morrison's removal and compared his treatment to that of weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

"I would imagine it has been looked upon in the shadowy offices of No10 that the Panorama programme was an embarrassment," Sir John said. "And they get rid of people who are an embarrassment."

He added that it was "very serious" that figures of the calibre of Mr Morrison, Dr Kelly and intelligence analyst Brian Jones had all broken ranks to criticise the Government. "These are people who for a lifetime have been loyal, honest, hardworking servants of the state, well used to not breaking ranks," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The decision to end Mr Morrison's contract with the ISC, which is chosen at the instruction of the Prime Minister, is bound to trigger claims that it will be weakened without expert advice.

One senior intelligence source told the Evening Standard: "There is no better way to make a martyr out of someone than sacking them. John was just saying what others were saying at the time."