Blair arrives back to face Hutton

Friday, 22 August 2003 12:00 AM

The Prime Minister has returned from his holiday in Barbados in order to face the Hutton Inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly next Thursday.

Tony Blair is gearing up for a tough week, after three weeks relaxing on the Caribbean island with his wife Cherie and their four children.

The Blairs were guests at singer Cliff Richard's £3 million villa.

Mr Blair was driven from the airport to Chequers in order to prepare to face questions over events leading up to the death of the Iraq arms expert.

Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after becoming embroiled in a row between the BBC and Downing Street over allegations that weapons intelligence was doctored in the lead up to the Iraq war.

His return to the UK comes as officials prepare to release to the media 9,000 pages of unseen evidence relating to the inquiry at 1600 BST on Friday.

The documents are expected to give journalists and the public an unprecedented insight into how the government operates.

On Thursday the inquiry learnt that Dr Kelly, a former UN weapons inspector, had referred in February to being found "dead in the woods" if the country went to war with Iraq.

Diplomat David Broucher, the UK's permanent representative on the disarmament conference in Geneva, said the scientist had made what he regarded at the time as a "throwaway remark".

Defence secretary Geoff Hoon takes the stand next Wednesday, followed by the Prime Minister next Thursday.

Mr Hoon is expected to face tough questioning regarding the Ministry of Defence's treatment of Dr Kelly and the manner in which his name was released to the press.

Mr Blair has already given evidence to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee about the September dossier that sparked BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan's story, based on conversations with Dr Kelly, in which he alleged the government had "sexed up" the document.

This will, however, be the first time Mr Blair has faced such formal questioning in public, as the committee sat in private.

Listed to appear on the same day as Mr Blair are BBC chairman Gavyn Davies and Tom Mangold, a journalist and friend of Dr Kelly.

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