Tory leader attacks 'deceit' at heart of government

Thursday, 17 July 2003 12:00 AM

At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, charged Labour with spinning a culture of "deceit" at the heart of Government and demanded the immediate sacking of communications director, Alastair Campbell.

The Tory leader said until the PM removed Mr Campbell "nobody will believe a word he says."

Mr Duncan Smith accused Mr Campbell of pursuing a "personal vendetta" against Andrew Gilligan, the BBC journalist whose Iraq dossier story upset the PM's once seemingly unassailable popularity.

Mr Duncan Smith also called on the premier to personally apologise to Dr David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence adviser whom Government sources claim was the chief source of Gilligan's story.

But Mr Blair was unmoved. He refused to apologise to Dr Kelly and repeated his call for the BBC to name Mr Gilligan's source.

The PM said: "The ministry of defence made it clear that of course they don't know who the source is. There's only one body that does - the BBC. All they have to do is say yes or no - why don't they?"

Mr Duncan Smith has come out ahead on some of the exchanges in recent weeks but the PM now has the summer break away from Westminster.

This will allow him to concentrate on international affairs. He now jets off for talks with US ally George W Bush.

The news comes as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted he and Prime Minister Tony Blair were cross-examined in private by the intelligence and security committee (ISC) yesterday.

The committee members will examine in the next ten days the extent to which the Government interfered with the intelligence on Iraq's capacity to launch lethal weapons "within 45 minutes" ahead of the US-led war. Their report is due out early in September.

In a speech at Millbank last night, IDS said:' "We are witnessing the beginning of the end for New Labour. Diminished by spin. Damaged by broken promises. The Third Way does not deserve a Third Chance."

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