SPIN doctor Alastair Campbell is set to be cleared by the Chilcot Enquiry, despite his role in “sexing up” the intelligence that helped push Britain into the war in Iraq.
Reports in the Sunday Times say the full blame for the way in which the so-called dodgy dossier of evidence on Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction was presented to parliament and the public will be pinned on Tony Blair and former intelligence chiefs Sir Richard Dearlove and Sir John Scarlett.
Blair is said to be particularly concerned at how brutally he is criticised in the report and how strongly it suggests he lied to parliament. Allies close to the former prime minister say he is gathering key advisers to draw up a plan on how best to respond.
In a legal process known as Maxwellisation, all those criticised in the report have been informed by letter and have seen the relevant passage.
Reports yesterday suggested Campbell has not received one of those letters, meaning, effectively that the inquiry has not criticised him.
Next week it will be seven years since then prime minister Gordon Brown ordered retired civil servant Sir John Chilcot to lead a committee “to learn the lessons of the complex and often controversial events” that saw Britain join the US in going to war in Iraq.
One source told the Sunday Times: “Campbell has not had a letter. He is in the clear.
“He was in some ways a bit player in this. Those who were directly responsible were the heads of the agencies who allowed him to ‘sex up’ the ‘dodgy dossier’ and of course the prime minister for whom he was working.
“Press officers are not supposed to be key policymakers, even though they sometimes are.”
Another source added: “The panel sees Campbell as a sideshow.”
An ally of the former Prime Minister told the paper the “lying issue is the greatest concern” to Blair.
Another source said Blair would “come out all guns blazing”.
“But Iraq has affected him a lot. It has made him into a defensive, awkward, self-conscious individual who feels destabilised by it.”
Pressed in a TV interview last week on whether he would accept the findings of the Chilcot report, Blair would only say: “It is hard to say that when I haven’t seen it.”
The former PM defended his decisions on Iraq, saying: “I don’t think anyone can seriously dispute that I was making it very clear what my position was.”
Reports suggest the final report, due for release on July 6, will run to some 6,000 pages, and 2.6million words.
Earlier this week, David Cameron had to intervene after the families of the 179 British soldiers who died in Iraq were told they may have to pay £767 for a hard copy of the report.
A Number 10 spokesman said: “There is no question of families of service personnel who died in Iraq having to pay for copies of the Chilcot report.”
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