BRITAIN’S top spymaster yesterday disclosed secret raw intelligence claiming that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction in an average of 20 minutes — less than half the time finally published by the Government before the war.

John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, gave the Hutton inquiry an e-mail and an intelligence assessment showing the 20-minute deployment fear as he robustly defended his role as author of the controversial dossier.

Today the focus of the inquiry will switch back to how the Government treated the weapons expert David Kelly — and in particular how his name became public — when Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, gives evidence which could make or break his ministerial career.

Mr Hoon had told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Dr Kelly had played no part in drafting the September dossier, but yesterday Mr Scarlett admitted that the weapons expert had played a part.

But Mr Scarlett also maintained that he retained full control over the content of the dossier and rejected absolutely claims in BBC reports that Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister’s director of communications, or anyone in Downing Street had inserted intelligence into the document.

In an unprecedented public grilling, Mr Scarlett also strongly denied hearing any disquiet about the dossier’s contents from the intelligence community, another claim in BBC reports.

However, the inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death on July 17 also heard that members of the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), who analyse material for the JIC, prepared a six-page document of changes that they wanted after reading a late draft. Mr Scarlett accepted some of these but a DIS appeal for the wording of the 45-minute claim to be softened appears to have been overruled.

The inquiry also saw a series of e-mails with suggestions from Mr Campbell for changes to the dossier, some of which Mr Scarlett acknowledged he accepted. The exchanges suggested a close working relationship between Mr Campbell and Mr Scarlett and seemed to contradict Mr Campbell’s evidence that he was responsible for “no input, output . . . whatsoever at any stage” on the 45-minute warning.

There was also a secret e-mail issued two weeks before publication of the dossier, appealing to intelligence experts for more evidence because “No 10 through the chairman [Mr Scarlett] want the document to be as strong as possible within the bounds of available intelligence.” This was “simply part of work in progress”, Mr Scarlett said.

One of the key claims being investigated by Lord Hutton, the chairman of the inquiry, was whether the dossier was “sexed up”, as alleged in the BBC reports. But Mr Scarlett’s contention that the dossier simply showed Iraq’s capabilities, rather than made a “case for war”, was supported by the omission of intelligence that WMD could be deployed in an average time of 20 minutes.

An e-mail was shown to the inquiry with both sender and recipient blacked out. Commenting on the 45-minute claim, it said: “The average time was 20 minutes. This could have important implications in the event of conflict”.

An extract from a JIC assessment of September 9, released yesterday, included the detail that “Intelligence also indicates that chemical and biological munitions could be with military units and ready for firing within 20 to 45 minutes”.

It is not clear whether the 20-minute detail was ever seen by a politician or Mr Campbell. But the fact that it was excluded from the dossier will be seen as a sign that Mr Scarlett was not prepared to publish the most alarmist evidence available.

In three hours of evidence, the former MI6 director was determined to present a resolute defence of the dossier and will have given a boost to Mr Blair, who gives evidence tomorrow. “As far as I am concerned, this was a very worthwhile objective . . . which was to put into the public domain and share as far as could be done safely the intelligence assessment on this issue which was being provided to the Prime Minister and the Government. It was no more or less than that,” Mr Scarlett said. “In no sense in my mind or in the mind of the JIC was it a document designed to make a case for anything.”

He added: “It was very important that one person had command and control of this exercise. That should be me.”

Mr Hoon is certain to be asked today about his role in making Dr Kelly’s name public. The inquiry has heard that Dr Kelly did not give his “specific consent” to being named.

The Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay told the inquiry yesterday that he had received hate mail over his treatment of Dr Kelly at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee hearing. He said that his description of him as “chaff” had been misinterpreted.

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