DOWNING Street said yesterday that it remained confident that “concrete evidence” of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction “programmes” would be found in the face of claims that it had given up expecting any actual weapons to emerge.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman went to some lengths to express faith that “evidence” would appear, but avoided direct references to finding weaponised chemicals or biological agents.

Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary who resigned over the Iraq war, said that evidence of programmes did not amount to the weapons that the British people were led to believe were the cause for war.

Mr Cook told The Times that the threat from WMD was behind the urgency for going to war in March. “We were told that Parliament had to vote for war in March because the situation was so urgent that we could not give Hans Blix (the chief UN weapons inspector) the few more months he needed.

“That urgency only works if there were real weapons. It does not apply to some fabric that could at some future date be made into a weapon.”

The latest row broke out after signs that Tony Blair and President Bush were seeking to lower expectations that WMD will be discovered. Mr Blair told the liaison committee of MPs on Tuesday that he remained confident that “evidence” of WMD “programmes” would be found.

Asked if this meant that he had given up on actual weapons being found, Mr Blair’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister believes, and is absolutely confident, that we will find material that, had Hans Blix found it, would have justified him going back to the Security Council and having a further UN resolution issued.

“The Prime Minister is also absolutely confident that we will find evidence not only of (Saddam’s) WMD programmes but concrete evidence of the product of those programmes as well.”

The Foreign Office last night declared that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, shared Mr Blair’s belief that WMD programmes would be found.

The Government came under pressure yesterday to hold an independent inquiry into the causes of the war from both John Major, the former Prime Minister, and Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader.

Mr Major, who supported military action, said that unanswered questions continued to “bubble around” about the information on which ministers took the country into war. Only an independent inquiry could restore public trust in the Government, he said.

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