Foreign Minister admits: we doubted our 45-minute WMD claim

Beckett: Iraq weapons claim 'irrelevant'

By Sally Peck and agencies
Last Updated: 9:03pm GMT 19/12/2006

Ministers were facing questions tonight after Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, appeared to accept that a key claim over Iraq's weapons capability was in doubt before the 2003 invasion.

Mrs Beckett said the assertion that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order had not been repeated in Parliament because people were "not sure" it was true.

She said that the claim - originally included in Downing Street's controversial September 2002 dossier making the case for war - was considered "irrelevant".

The Foreign Secretary said: "That was a statement that was made once and it was thought to be of such little relevance - and perhaps people began quickly to think, 'I'm not sure about that' - it was never used once in all the debates in the House of Commons."

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Government had not placed much emphasis on the claim, although it made headlines in many newspapers.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague responded: "If it is true that the 45 minute claim had been discounted before the invasion, it is appalling that there seems to have been no effort or coordination between ministers to put the record straight.

"This is yet another reason to dismantle Tony Blair's sofa policy-making and restore Cabinet government."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said tonight that official inquiries had been held into the run-up to the invasion and he had "nothing further to add".

Also today Mr Blair was defending Britain's close alliance with America, and dismissed claims that the relationship had weakened the UK's credibility in the Middle East.