A British inquiry into flawed intelligence ahead of the Iraq war has interviewed senior government ministers and appears to be extending its remit into the controversial area of political responsibility, a report said yesterday.
The investigation, set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in February after the US established a similar probe, was officially handed a somewhat limited scope.
Inquiry chief Lord Robin Butler and his team were told merely to look into the structures and processes which led Britain's government to believe that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction ahead of the war, none of which have since been found.
This limited remit caused both main opposition parties, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, to withdraw support for the inquiry.
However the Financial Times said that Butler has quizzed ministers and top officials about the intelligence used to justify a pre-war ruling by Britain's top legal officer, Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, that the conflict did not break international laws.
Citing sources "familiar with the inquiry process," the paper said that Butler's questioning appeared to indicate he planned to examine how well the government had made decisions on the war.
This broader scope "opens the possibility of laying responsibility for flawed decisions at the door of ministers, threatening fresh damage to the government," the newspaper said.
Butler, a former head of Britain's civil service, has told friends he was "stung" by the withdrawal of opposition support, as well as media predictions that the report, due next month, will be a whitewash.
Among those he has interviewed have been Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon.
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