Blair court in the act in Hutton clash

By Dominic Ball
BBC Radio 4's Today in Parliament

Mr Blair went through his full range

It is not often that two barristers get to argue their case after the judge has delivered his verdict.

But that's exactly what happened in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.

Tony Blair and Michael Howard - both lawyers - cross-examined each other about a report which some had thought would result in a sentence of unemployment for the Prime Minister.

Minutes after Lord Hutton finished his regal televised statement, Tony Blair walked into the chamber.

The paymaster general Dawn Primarolo, who was at the despatch box talking about a particularly dull Treasury bill, was drowned out as Labour backbenchers cheered and waved their order papers.

Ms Primarolo was mercifully brief in her summing up and soon the prime minister was on his feet.

He began by saying that Lord Hutton had given a comprehensive account of the facts and it was unnecessary for him to repeat them.

'Unfounded' allegations

Necessary or not - Mr Blair wasn't going to resist the opportunity to remind his opponent of the evidence.

When Michael Howard QC rose to his feet, he seemed to be talking about a different case - or at least a different defendant

In language as legalistic as that of Lord Hutton, Mr Blair ran through the charges made against him, pausing only to quote from Lord Hutton and his verdict that they were "unfounded."

The Commons might as well have been a court room as the Prime Minister went though his whole range: "defiant" as he dismissed the allegations as completely untrue, "passionate" as he defended his integrity, "statesmanlike" as he praised Dr Kelly.

Behind him sat his junior counsel - Gordon Brown, slouched and uninterested, John Prescott in his familiar cross-armed pose; chins jutting as he eyeballed the opposition frontbench.

And to the prime minister's immediate left Geoff Hoon - sitting bolt upright to the extent that he looked like he was trying to squeeze into the camera shot over Mr Blair's shoulder.

With the Speaker regularly having to call for order, Mr Blair's submission reached a crescendo as he glared at the Tory leader and demanded that anyone who had accused him of lying withdraw the allegation.

BBC in the dock

When Michael Howard QC rose to his feet, he seemed to be talking about a different case - or at least a different defendant.

After spending weeks grilling the prime minister about his role in the Kelly affair, the Conservative leader had decided to change tack. Now it was the BBC in the dock.

The Conservatives had long argued that the governors shouldn't both run and regulate the BBC - hadn' t the whole affair demonstrated the case for independent regulation of the BBC?

Mr Blair looked on, bemused.

But Mr Howard did turn his fire on to the Prime Minister eventually.

Synchronised disbelief

On one level, Lord Hutton, he said, had concluded that the crucial dossier had been "sexed up" afterall.

Lord Hutton could not rule out the possibility that Mr Blair's attitude "may have subconsciously influenced the Joint Intelligence Committee to make the wording of the dossier somewhat stronger"

Wasn't this a very serious finding?

Even the Tory backbenchers seemed to be thinking "er, no". Mr Blair and Mr Hoon sat opposite, shaking their heads in apparently synchronised disbelief.

Lord Hutton, said Mr Howard, had chosen his words very carefully. It was plain he was having to do so too.

Concluding his remarks, the Tory leader appeared to call for a change at the bench.

Perhaps unsatisfied with Lord Hutton's conclusions, he was waiting for the response of another judge: the nation, he said, would deliver its verdict.