RELATIONS between the BBC and the Government hit crisis point last night after the row over the corporation’s coverage of the Iraq war threatened to turn into a stand-off between Greg Dyke and the Prime Minister.

The BBC Director-General, vowed to stand firm against “unprecedented pressure” from Tony Blair and his communications chief, Alastair Campbell, and personally authorised a fiercely-worded statement rejecting Mr Campbell’s demand for answers by midnight to a range of questions on the BBC’s conduct.

The Prime Minister also became personally embroiled in the row yesterday after he appeared to snub a senior BBC correspondent at his press conference after meeting President Putin.

In a sharp escalation of the most serious dispute between the BBC and the Government since Labour came to power, Mr Campbell was accused privately of putting pressure not only on the BBC but on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of MPs which is examining his conduct.

A senior BBC source told The Times: “Greg is not only Director-General. He is the Editor-in-Chief. You have to defend your journalists. He has examined the story and he is standing by it. We are not backing down.” The source accused Mr Campbell of diversionary tactics to take the spotlight away from the claim that he he “sexed up” government documents detailing the threat from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The intervention of Mr Dyke, a former Labour donor, came after a series of bitter exchanges over the reporting of Iraq and an apparent snub to a senior corporation reporter by the Prime Minister.

The Government bombarded the BBC throughout the day with demands for an apology and immediate answers to a host of questions surrounding its claims that Downing Street exaggerated the case against Iraq in the run-up to war.

Despite a pledge from the Prime Minister’s spokesman that the row would not become “petty”, Mr Blair appeared to cold-shoulder the BBC correspondent at his press conference with Mr Putin.

Bridget Kendal, whose reporting has never been queried by Downing Street, was overlooked by Mr Blair who instead chose questions from ITV, Sky and The New York Times before leaving The Government’s assault on the BBC yesterday began with 11 questions from Mr Blair’s official spokesman at Downing Street’s morning briefing.

These asked whether the BBC stood by reports that, against the wishes of the intelligence services, Mr Campbell inserted into the Government’s dossier on Iraq’s weapons the claim that they could be deployed within 45 minutes.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said the questions were being posed through the rest of the media because Downing Street had given up trying to get answers through private correspondence with the BBC.

However, at Downing Street’s afternoon briefing, the spokesman released a letter from Mr Campbell to Richard Sambrook, the Director of News, largely repeating the morning’s questions and adding another batch.

These were directed at the behaviour of Andrew Gilligan, the BBC’s defence correspondent, who has consistently accused Mr Campbell of “sexing up” the Government’s key dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Downing Street regards Mr Gilligan as “the weakest link” in the BBC’s chain of allegations over the Government’s Iraq dossiers.

Mr Campbell pointed out that Mr Gilligan described Mr Blair as a “push-over” in relations with President Putin in an article published in yesterday’s Spectator writing in a “personal capacity”.

“Is that the BBC’s view?” Mr Campbell demanded to know, intensifying his attack.”In a dramatic raising of the stakes, Mr Campbell demanded answers “by the end of the day”.

The Government’s third prong of attack was delivered by Phil Woolas, Deputy Leader of the Commons, who released a letter he sent to Mr Gilligan accusing him of misleading MPs on the select committee.

“I read your evidence to the committee in which you claimed the only allegation you made against the Government was that it gave “undue prominence” to the point about 45 minutes,” Mr Woolas wrote.

“I am afraid it would appear that you misled the committee. The allegations you actually made were far more varied and far more grave. It is perfectly clear that the stories that you broadcast, on the basis of a single anonymous source, were not true and I really believe you should apologise.”

Mr Gilligan last night vehemently denied the accusation he misled the committee.

In a statement last night, Mr Sambrook said: “We stand by our story. This is an unprecedented level of pressure on the BBC from Downing Street. The BBC will respond to these matters but not to a deadline dictated by Mr Campbell.”

At the centre of the row lies the integrity of Mr Gilligan, who first alleged on May 29 that “most people in intelligence were not happy with the (WMD) dossier” and that “we have been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier that the Government probably knew that the 45-minute figure was wrong, even before it decided to put it in.”

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