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Blair in `dodgy` position over naming Kelly

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Jan 14, IRNA -- Opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard 
suggested Wednesday that Prime Minister Tony Blair may be forced out 
of office when Lord Hutton presents his report later this month on the
death of former Iraq weapons expert David Kelly. 
"The whole country has seen how desperately dodgy" Blair`s 
position is, Howard said after accusing the prime minister of failing 
to give a straight answer about whether he authorized the naming of 
Kelly as a possible government mole shortly before his death. 
The opposition leader repeatedly pressed the prime minister during
a heated exchange in parliament if he still stood by his previous 
denial as having authorized the leaking of the former arms inspector`s
name to the press. 
Amid jeers from Conservative MPs, Blair consistently refused to 
directly answer the question but insisted that he stood by `all that I
have said in relation to this issue`. 
Kelly was named as the possible source of a BBC report last May 
that claimed the government exaggerated Saddam Hussein`s weapons 
threat to justify the war against Iraq. 
His body was found later near his home in Oxfordshire, west of 
London, where he was presumed to have committed suicide by slashing 
his wrist. 
The prime minister accused Howard of trying to pre-empt the 
delayed publication of the inquiry into Kelly`s death, which embroiled
Blair`s office, the BBC and the Defense Ministry, where he worked as 
an advisor. 
Blair, who confirmed that he will lead the government`s case in a 
parliamentary debate when the report is published, claimed that the 
opposition leader was involved in `total opportunism` and had made up 
his mind on the inquiry before the findings were published. 
"It is completely absurd for the right honorable gentleman to be 
raising these issues about my integrity before the report has actually
been published," he said. 
The prime minister went on to call on his opposite number to 
apologize for accusing him of lying if the Hutton report `does not 
find those charges proven`. 
HC/AH/210 
End