Blair's 'dodgy dossier' on Iraq set to be revealed after Government loses appeal on keeping it secret

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Dodgy dossier: Blair was accused of using false information to bounce parliament into Bush's Iraq war

It now has 28 days to decide whether to publish the document or appeal to the High Court.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas originally ordered ministers to hand over the draft last May but the Government appealed.

But the Information Tribunal rejected the appeal.

Campaigners believe the draft, written by then Foreign Office press secretary John Williams, could contain the first mention of Saddam Hussein's ability to launch a WMD strike within 45 minutes - a claim made by Tony Blair in his dossier of September 2002.

However, the draft was never seen by Lord Hutton, who carried out the 2004 inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly, the first to question the 45-minute claim.

The tribunal said: "We do not accept that we should treat the Hutton report as the final word."

Last night researcher Christopher Ames, who applied for the information in 2005, said: "The ruling casts doubt over the Government's claim that the draft played no part in the production of the dossier."

 

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