Intelligence chief was also 'troubled' by Iraq dossier

The row over the evolution of the Iraq intelligence dossier intensified today after it emerged the man who drew it up, John Scarlett, may have been "troubled" by its credibility.

In an email submitted to the Hutton inquiry, BBC presenter Nik Gowing told the director of news, Richard Sambrook, that a senior government official involved in intelligence had approached him in January this year.

During a 20-minute chat at a conference on terrorism in January, the man raised concerns about the "credibility of intelligence relating to Iraq".

Gowing's email was private but it has become part of the BBC's evidence submitted to the Hutton inquiry.

The identity of the man was blanked out but today the Financial Times named him as Mr Scarlett, the chairman of the joint intelligence committee.

Gowing revealed: "During the free time on Saturday afternoon, I was encouraged into an empty drawing room by ... He was clearly troubled about the issue of the credibility of intelligence relating to Iraq. I took no note of the conversation. But I recall distinctly probing me to find out how willing in the coming days and weeks the media would be to accept all that had been claimed in the government's Iraq WMD dossier from September."

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