‘Rogue spies’ undermining Government
A senior minister has claimed that rogue elements within the intelligence service are using the row over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to undermine the Government.
John Reid, Leader of the House of Commons, told the Times newspaper that the Government was a victim of ‘uncorroborated briefings by a potentially rogue element – or indeed rogue elements – in the intelligence services’.
The claims by Dr Reid and by a number of other Labour MPs that the Government are the victims of ‘skulduggery’ and ‘political manoeuvring’ by elements in the intelligence survey come ahead of Prime Minister’s Question Time. Tony Blair is expected to face a heated discussion about claims the Government doctored intelligence reports to justify the war in Iraq in the Commons later today.
The Conservative Party Leader, Iain Duncan-Smith warned that the arguments about the dossier and the role of the intelligence services in briefing the media could undermine the ability of the Government and the Armed Forces to complete their task in Iraq.
Writing to the Prime Minister, Mr Duncan-Smith commented, ‘Media coverage of the accusations from within your own Party risks undermining the vital credibility and integrity of our intelligence services and the manner in which Government responds to them. Given your publicly stated rebuttals, I believe it is now urgent that these questions are fully and comprehensively answered in the House.’
Dr Reid told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Government would convince the British public that they had not misled the public over the threat from Saddam Hussein and WMDs.
He also claimed on the programme that it was a disgrace that the leadership of the intelligence service was being tainted by one or two un-named rogue sources talking to journalists.
Dr Reid told the Today programme that the Government had the greatest respect for the intelligence services and he found it difficult to understand why allegations by an anonymous and uncorroborated source are being believed and not the Government.
Both the Times and the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme claim that they had spoken to an intelligence officer who claimed that the Government was guilty of ‘over exaggerating’ the threat from WMDs to justify military actions in Iraq.
