Hoon unfazed by “45-minutes” confusion
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon faced a barrage of questions yesterday from fellow MPs over the type and threat of the weapons of mass destruction that were reported to be in Iraq.
The government this week launched the Butler inquiry to review the rationale for war against the Middle Eastern country.
Mr Hoon, speaking before the Defence Select Committee, said he was aware the 45-minute claim related only to weapons used on the battlefield, not missiles.
But Mr Hoon said he had chosen not to inform the Prime Minister of the difference, as he felt it was unimportant. “It was not a matter we discussed,” he said.
Sir Peter Viggers, a former Tory defence minister, criticised Mr Hoon for allowing the confusion to continue, and for standing by as the “misapprehension” circulated in the press.
Mr Hoon was pressed on whether he had read press reports on the 45-minute claim whilst on his tour of the Ukraine.
He said he had not read The Evening Standard or The Sun newspapers on 24-26 September, when htey reported on a possible WMD missile threat.
Crispin Blunt MP asked Mr Hoon to investigate if his private office received press cuttings during his stay in the Ukraine and the days around the ‘September dossier’ publication. The defence secretary said it did.
These “glaring contradictions” prompted Michael Howard to call for Mr Blair’s resignation. The opposition leader said: “The question is whether the chemical and biological weapons he thought Iraq had could be used only on the battlefield, or put on the end of a missile to be fired at British troops in Cyprus.
“I cannot imagine a more serious dereliction of duty by a Prime Minister.”
Mr Hoon told Sky News yesterday: “I don’t believe there is a question of blame and I don’t believe there was a discrepancy.’
