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Teflon Tony Tarred?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

23:08 / 04.09.03

No 10 'had ownership' of dossier, memo claims

This could be the moment:

A memo of a meeting chaired by John Scarlett, the chairman of the JIC, last September - seven days before the dossier was published - states that "ownership lay with No 10".

That contradicts point-blank the testimony of the prime minister, Alastair Campbell - the government's outgoing director of communications - and Mr Scarlett himself.

Memo

Covering Note

Via The Guardian.

Watch this space - will Blair be able to side-step this one? If Hutton chooses to take him to task, it could be very tricky for him...

Tryphena Absent

08:03 / 05.09.03

Cripes! That places the blame directly on No.10... who on earth released this?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

08:56 / 05.09.03

Well, Hutton requested and required it, I think..

sleazenation

08:57 / 05.09.03

If Tony is recalled to face further questioning then you know things are serious...

Jack The Bodiless

10:51 / 05.09.03

If I've read this correctly, the panicky covering letter accompanying the publication of the memo advises that the documents were considered 'owned' by the JIC until 20.09.2002, when the approved dossier was passed to Downing Street for "publication and presentation". Ie, their defence is going to be that the JIC owned the document until it was finished, and No.10 (and by implication, Blair) owned it afterwards.

This could extend the Hutton enquiry, if Hutton decides to recall witnesses over this, but if the government sticks to the above story and everyone closes ranks, it's only going to detract further from the government's credibility, which is a longer term concern for them. I don't think it's going to stand as proof of anything that will make Tony's head roll any time soon...

Or am I being overly pessimistic?

Tryphena Absent

12:04 / 05.09.03

I'm not sure that argument's going to work atm with the other evidence going hand in hand with it. They could be underestimating everything a little too much because it doesn't sit with what's going on with Hoon, Campbell etc. Even if they deny it until they're blue in the face the media's eventually got to start dancing with it. I notice that this hasn't been *the* thing in the news and that kinda indicates there's still a lot of shit to hit the fan before it becomes a tool.

I continue to believe that Hoon is not the guilty party here. I think he's been manipulated and the people around him have made a number of mistakes that ultimately can be blamed on him.

Lurid Archive

12:53 / 05.09.03

I don't think you are being pessimistic, JtB. I even think that that explanation is plausible (as long as you take it in the context of a compromised intelligence report). I think that there is a lot of wishful thinking is looking for a straightforward lie to get Blair on.

Besides, I thought the testimony of the intelligence people was more damning.

Tryphena Absent

13:24 / 05.09.03

The testimony is more damning but they're speaking and this is paper... people trust documents more.

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