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Iraq Dossier (September 2002)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron) on calling the debate and thank him for providing us with the opportunity once again to clarify the issue. Allow me to respond on behalf of the Government, who, I must report, have made their position on the issue clear in the past, and that position has not changed. I am sure that my response will disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but I am afraid that the truth about the production of the Government’s dossier on weapons of mass destruction is much more mundane than they would like. In the short time allocated to me, I want to start with two important points about the John Williams draft. First, the draft was a personal attempt by John Williams at drafting a document in which the Government would explain the threat that Saddam and his regime posed. It was not specifically commissioned as part of the formal drafting process overseen by the then JIC chairman, John Scarlett, and it was not used as the basis for the dossier that the Government subsequently published. Secondly, I can assure hon. Members categorically that Mr. Williams made no reference in his draft to weapons of mass destruction being deployed within 45 minutes. Before describing how the dossier was produced, it is important that I remind hon. Members of why it was produced.