HC Deb 13 September 2004 vol 424 c1448W
Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to paragraph 512 of the Butler Report, HC 898, on what date the Secret Intelligence Service became aware that the validity of the intelligence report on which the 45 minute claim was based had come into question; on what date Government ministers were informed of this; and how many links there were in the reporting chain for the 45 minute claim intelligence report. [187394]

Mr. Straw

Government Ministers were informed at the beginning of June about concerns that had arisen in mid-May regarding the validity of the intelligence reporting on which the 45-minute claim was based. Paragraph 399 of the Butler Report explains why it is not possible to set out in full the analysis of main SIS sources whose reporting underpinned JIC assessments, and this applies to details such as the number of links in the reporting chain for specific reports.

Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to paragraph 442 of the Butler Report, HC 898, for what reasons there was an urgent requirement for intelligence. [187395]

Mr. Straw

The urgent need for intelligence was a result of the international community's lack of reliable information as to Iraqi activities in the absence of UN inspectors between December 1998 and November 2002 caused by Iraq's continuing failure to meet its obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions. As the Butler Report itself states, obtaining intelligence on Iraq had been a long-standing high priority throughout the years of Saddam Hussein's regime.