‘Fuming’ Tory leader angered by allegations
Conservative Iain Duncan Smith has demanded from Prime Minister Tony Blair an unequivocal retraction of a statement made in the Commons yesterday on the shadow opposition leader’s knowledge of intelligence briefings regarding Iraq’s capacity to launch lethal weapons.
In a follow-up letter to his first appeal written on Wednesday evening, Mr Duncan Smith said he was definitely not briefed on the February dossier until nine days after its publication.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Duncan Smith was “fuming” after the PM said the Tory leader had been handed intelligence reports forming the second dossier.
Mr Blair stands by the remark and insists Mr Duncan Smith was briefed by the intelligence services about the data in, crucially, both the September and February dossiers.
The PM’s reply to Duncan Smith insists Duncan Smith was briefed on September 18 and February 12 by the intelligence services and not “orally by me to you.”
In the second letter, Mr Duncan Smith said the PM’s refusal to apologise over what he insists to be the false statement “demeans” his office.
It was “completely untrue” that the intelligence on which the dossier was based was “shared with me,” the Tory leader wrote.
Moreover, Duncan Smith said: “If you check your records, you will find that immediately I read about the February document in the newspapers, I caused a telephone call to be made to your office asking for the basis of this document. I had no prior knowledge whatsoever of its contents or the material on which it was based.
“Furthermore, if you check your records, you will find that the last time I saw the head of the JIC (joint intelligence committee) was on September 18 2002 just before the publication of the first dossier. I did not see him again until February 12 2003, nine days after the second dossier was published.
“At no time was I given an oral briefing on the second dossier by the intelligence services prior to its publication. Will you now withdraw this false allegation and apologise without delay?”
Downing Street said the PM had yet to receive Mr Duncan Smith’s letter.
