The Death of David Kelly - Lies by Tony Blair to Parliament regarding the dossiers

It's not directly relevant to the cause of death of David Kelly but readers might find it of interest to have direct evidence that Tony Blair lied to the UK Parliament about the validity of the content of the September 2002 dossier.

The following extracts are from House of Commons Hansard for 25th June 2003.

Mr. Kennedy: On a related topic on Iraq, the Foreign Secretary said yesterday that, when the February dossier was approved for publication by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister himself had assumed that its contents had come through the normal channels. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, at the point at which he authorised the publication of that dossier, he was not aware that sections of it had been lifted from a student thesis on the internet?

The Prime Minister: I can confirm that. I would also say to the right hon. Gentleman that it is important, amid all this coverage, to realise that the contents of that dossier—and, indeed, of the first dossier which I presented to the House—are accurate.

and

Q4. [121375] Gregory Barker (Bexhill and Battle): Yesterday the Foreign Secretary described the dodgy dossier as "a complete Horlicks", so is it time to say "night, night" to Alastair Campbell?

25 Jun 2003 : Column 1046

The Prime Minister: As I said earlier, that part of the dossier was entirely accurate and the mistake of not attributing it was accepted at the time. I would simply point out to the hon. Gentleman that, in respect of that dossier and the first dossier, not a single fact in them is actually disputed.

Notice that Tony Blair was continuing in late June 2003 to claim that the contents of the September 2002 dossier were accurate and were not disputed.

However, in House of Commons Hansard for 12th October 2004 we read the following interesting statement by Jack Straw (then Foreign Secretary):

The House will recall that the Butler committee concluded, among many other things, that the validity of the line of reporting that included the 45-minute intelligence had come into question. It further concluded that reporting received from a liaison service on Iraqi production of biological agent was "seriously flawed". The House will now wish to be aware that the chief of the Secret Intelligence Service has written to my right hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Ann Taylor), the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, formally withdrawing those two lines of reporting.

Withdrawing that "intelligence" came much too late for David Kelly, sadly.