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Blair rules out recalling parliament over Kelly death
London, July 20: British Prime Minister Tony Blair today ruled out recalling parliament following the death of former UN arms inspector David Kelly, as conservative opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith had demanded hours before.
London, July 20: British Prime Minister Tony Blair today ruled out recalling parliament following the death of former UN arms inspector David Kelly, as conservative opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith had demanded hours before.
Recalling parliament, on holiday since Thursday, "would generate more heat than light. I don't think it would be appropriate," Blair said in an interview with a news television.
"I think we should have a period of reflection and a period in which the judge can carry out the inquiry, and also allow the family time to grieve," Blair said from the Japanese spa of Hakone where he was stopping over during an Asian tour.
The government yesterday called for an "urgent" inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the apparent suicide of Kelly which caused the worst crisis in Blair's political career.
Kelly, 59, had been fingered as the unnamed intelligence official who had told BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan in May that Downing Street had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction in order to beef up the case for joining the United States in war against Saddam Hussein.
Bureau Report
Recalling parliament, on holiday since Thursday, "would generate more heat than light. I don't think it would be appropriate," Blair said in an interview with a news television.
"I think we should have a period of reflection and a period in which the judge can carry out the inquiry, and also allow the family time to grieve," Blair said from the Japanese spa of Hakone where he was stopping over during an Asian tour.
The government yesterday called for an "urgent" inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the apparent suicide of Kelly which caused the worst crisis in Blair's political career.
Kelly, 59, had been fingered as the unnamed intelligence official who had told BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan in May that Downing Street had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction in order to beef up the case for joining the United States in war against Saddam Hussein.
Bureau Report