Note for the Record

I received a phone call at noon tor3av ffrnr ___1vIP whom i know quite wed and trust.
He said thatj on with a senior `Ntt6 official
-'s. He said that the MI6 nacl giver, him a speciftc piece ofinforrnation about
the 45 minute claim ?n Jie September dossier .

According to the hFI6 official, the 45 minute ciairn was sourced fi-om a reliable Iraqi . This
Iraqi person reported to MI6 a conversat_oa he had had with a brigadier in the Iraqi army. The
brigadier said that, if certain steps were taken, then the chances were inigh that Iraq could
launch a ma;or attack, probably involving chemical weapons, within 45 minutes . This was
hedged with a large number ofprovisos about what would need to be done in order to make
the weapons useable within `.hat tme

The ?vI16 official said that the provisos which related to the 45 rrunute claim were removed
from the original irntelligence reports before the September dossier was pitb:-,shed. He said
that this had been done by ?.iastair Campbell . The IMP did not say wherf this had Occ=--d

I reporLed this story to Greg Dyke, w-'-;hout giving him the name of the IMP . Subsequently, I
asked the MP whether I had Qot the details oi the story right He said that I did I asked hirn if
he would say the same tiiing to Greg, u=ho is a ;outnalist. He said he would talk to Greg in the
sa.-ne terms

At 12.30 I received a call from z peer. The peer said that a close
personal friead had recently repoaea m a private conversation that the Attorney General's
original opinion on the legality of the war was not suLFicientiy strong, and that he had co:ae
:nder strong pressure to make it --nor,, robust . "The Attorney General was told to strengthen
his opinion.''

7 July 2003