Blair's spin doctor apologises for dossier

Tony Blair's closest adviser has written a personal letter apologising to the chief of the Secret Intelligence Service for discrediting the service with the release last January of the so-called "dodgy dossier" on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.

The disclosure that Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's director of strategy and communications, apologised to the head of MI6 for the dossier, Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation, will fuel claims that Downing Street was involved in "doctoring" intelligence reports before the war.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Mr Campbell put his apology in writing to end a row with the intelligence service over the dossier, after it was revealed that parts were lifted via the internet from a 12-year-old thesis by an American student.

Senior intelligence officers were furious that randomly assembled material had been combined with MI6 reports by the Coalition Information Centre, set up by Mr Campbell inside the Foreign Office.

The information was not put through the normal checks in Whitehall, including approval by the Joint Intelligence Committee. One highly placed intelligence officer disowned the document at the time, saying: "We are not responsible for this bastard offspring."

It is not clear whether the apology was written on the orders of Mr Blair or at Mr Campbell's initiative. He will be questioned about it by MPs who are investigating allegations that Mr Blair "duped" the country into waging war on Iraq.

Senior members of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said they would summon Mr Campbell to give evidence. Mr Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will be called as well.

Mr Blair, Mr Campbell and Mr Straw will also be called to give evidence by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which is carrying out a parallel inquiry. Members of that committee were annoyed that Mr Blair had delayed his co-operation with their inquiry. "We asked him in early May to co-operate. He has only replied now because of the pressure," one MP said.

In a report last September, Mr Blair claimed Saddam Hussein was able to deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. This report was cleared by the Joint Intelligence Committee.

Mr Campbell has never publicly admitted his role in the preparation of the much more controversial January document. That second dossier, passed to journalists during Mr Blair's trip to Washington, said it drew on "a number of sources, including intelligence material".

It prompted widespread criticism of the quality of British intelligence in the run-up to the war. A senior Whitehall official said recently: "It devalued the currency, there is no question about that . . . It was a monumental cock-up."

- Telegraph