BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has "emphatically" denied authorising the identification of Dr David Kelly as the suspected government mole behind the BBC's disputed story about the "sexed-up" Iraqi weapons dossier.
During a flight to Hong Kong on the last leg of his diplomatic tour of the Far East, Mr Blair was asked bluntly why he had authorised the leaking of Dr Kelly's name. He replied sharply: "That's completely untrue." Pressed further, Mr Blair said: "That is emphatically not the case. I did not authorise the leaking of the name of Dr Kelly." And he added: "Nobody was authorised to name David Kelly. I believe we have acted properly throughout."
A second opinion poll yesterday confirmed that the majority of voters no longer consider Mr Blair trustworthy, with Mr Blair's personal rating down four points on last month at minus 17 points, and with 37 per cent happy with the job he is doing as prime minister as opposed to 54 per cent unhappy.