Report clears Blair, says newspaper

Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to escape major criticism over the suspected suicide of Government weapons expert Dr David Kelly, according to a leaked version of Lord Hutton's anxiously awaited report into the tragedy.

According to The Sun newspaper, the retired law lord has largely cleared Mr Blair, his communications chief Alastair Campbell and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon of wrongdoing.

The majority of Lord Hutton's criticisms, according to the newspaper, were aimed at the BBC and its reporter Andrew Gilligan over reports suggesting that the Government knowingly 'sexed up' its controversial September 2002 dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

There was also criticism that Dr Kelly himself had broken rules of his employment by talking to Mr Gilligan.

The leaking of Lord Hutton's conclusions, just hours before he was due to publish his report, prompted an immediate call from the Conservatives for an inquiry into how the closely-guarded information made it into the public domain.

Conservative co-chairman Dr Liam Fox demanded: "I want to see a full inquiry into the leaking of this report ... We must find out who is behind it, because it has all the fingerprints of a Government which is willing to say or do anything to save its own skin.

"And the British public will feel that they now have a morally bankrupt Government which is as corrupt as it is corrupting."

A Downing Street spokesman insisted: "We categorically deny that anyone who was authorised by Government to see this document has either shown it to, or spoken about it to, anyone else."

If The Sun's account of Lord Hutton's conclusions is reflected by the full report on its publication, it would be a major boost for Mr Blair and the Government - particularly after last night's narrow Commons victory on university top-up fees.

Mr Blair was due to make a statement to the Commons at around 2pm today on the Hutton report.

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