A civil servant and a former MP’s researcher appeared in court today charged with leaking an account of a conversation between Tony Blair and George Bush, in which the US President allegedly suggested bombing al-Jazeera, the Arab news network.

David Keogh, 49, a former communications officer at the Cabinet Office, and Leo O’Connor, 42, a one-time researcher for the former Labour MP, Anthony Clarke, appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court charged under the Official Secrets Act.

Mr Keogh is accused of passing the minutes of a conversation between the Prime Minister and Mr Bush to Mr O’Connor between April 16 and May 28, 2004. Mr O'Connor is charged with receiving a document "through its disclosure without lawful authority by a Crown servant".

In the ten-minute hearing, Mr Keogh and Mr O'Connor, both of Northampton, spoke only to give their names. But on the steps of the courthouse, Mr O'Connor's lawyer, Neil Clark called for the document - which caused international controversy when its existence was revealed - to be disclosed to the court, so he could read it before the case resumes on January 10.

"Sometime between now and January 10 I hope that that document will be disclosed to me," he said. "It needs to be disclosed because it’s impossible to defend unless you know the case that you’re facing."

The leaked minutes were the basis of a front-page story in the Daily Mirror last week, which appeared under the headline: "Bush plot to bomb his ally".

The document recounts a conversation in April 2004 during which the President allegedly suggested that he would like to bomb the studios of al-Jazeera in Doha, the capital of the American ally, Qatar.

Hours after the story was published, Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General, informed newspapers editors, including that of The Times, that "publication of a document that has been unlawfully disclosed by a Crown servant could be in breach of Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act."

Al-Jazeera has angered the Bush Administration by broadcasting video messages from Osama bin Laden and footage of dead and injured Iraqi civilians. But Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, called newspaper reports surrounding the minutes "outlandish".

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