Kelly believed Iraq threat was small

Top British arms expert Mr David Kelly believed Iraq's weapons posed only a minimal threat and accused the government of overplaying the risk to justify war, a BBC reporter told an inquiry into his suicide yesterday.

Mr Kelly slashed his wrist last month after being named as the source for a BBC journalist's report that a British government dossier on Iraq's weapons was "sexed up" at the behest of Prime Minister Tony Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell.

Mr Andrew Gilligan, the BBC defence correspondent whose May 29 report plunged Mr Blair's government into crisis, told the judicial inquiry that Mr Kelly told him most British intelligence experts were unhappy with the weapons dossier.

Mr Gilligan faced tough questions over discrepancies between his account of his interview with Mr Kelly and the scientist's own recollection. The inquiry heard that an internal BBC memo spoke of Mr Gilligan's "flawed reporting".

But a second BBC correspondent said Mr Kelly had expressed similar concerns about the dossier in a separate interview.

Reading his notes from his talk with Mr Kelly, Mr Gilligan said: Iraq's weapons "programme was small. He couldn't have killed very many people even if everything had gone right for him".

Mr Gilligan's notes also had Mr Kelly - a former United Nations weapons inspector - referring to "no usable weapons" in Iraq.

Nearly five months after US and British forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam, no weapons of mass destruction have been found, prompting Mr Blair's public trust ratings to plunge.

A poll this week showed 41 per cent blame the government for Mr Kelly's death and 68 per cent believe it was dishonest.

Mr Gilligan said Mr Kelly pointed a finger at Campbell for changing the pre-war dossier, highlighting a claim that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological arms at 45 minutes notice.

"Most people in intelligence were unhappy with it because it didn't reflect the considered view they were putting forward," Mr Gilligan said, quoting Mr Kelly.

That claim was bolstered on Monday when Martin Howard, deputy chief of intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, told the inquiry two defence officials were unhappy with language used in the government dossier, published in September 2002.

The dossier was "transformed a week before publication to make it sexier. A classic was the 45 minutes," Mr Gilligan said.