Portrait of the week

Lord Hutton began his inquiry into the events leading to the death of Dr David Kelly, the expert on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Mr Andrew Gilligan, who had used Dr Kelly as his source for a report on the BBC about the 'sexing up' of the government's September dossier on Iraq, made available notes made after meeting him; part said, 'most people in intel werent happy with it because it didn't reflect the considere view they were putting forward Campbell real info but unr. incl against ur wishes'. Miss Susan Watts, the science editor of BBC's Newsnight, said her shorthand notes of Dr Kelly's remarks about the claim that weapons could be deployed in 45 minutes read: 'a mistake to put in, Alastair Campbell seeing something in there, single source, but not corroborated, sounded good'.

Lord Hutton began his inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence expert on Iraqi weapons, by disclosing part of a letter by the scientist to his superior, in which he said that, judging from the report by the BBC's Andrew Gilligan about the government's September dossier on Iraq, 'I can only conclude one of three things: Gilligan has considerably embellished my meeting with him; he has met with other individuals who were intimately associated with the dossier; or he assembled comments from both multiple direct and indirect sources for his articles.' Lord Hutton said he meant to call both the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence to give evidence; the inquiry adjourned until after Dr Kelly's funeral.

Mr Alastair Campbell was expected to resign as the director of communications and strategy at the Prime Minister's office before the Labour party conference at the end of September. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, let it be known through friends including Lord Falconer of Thoroton that he intends to complete a third term. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service proposed that women up to nine weeks pregnant should be allowed to induce abortions with drugs at home; the foetus would be thrown down the lavatory. As part of investigations into the murder of a young boy whose torso was found floating in the Thames, 200 police arrested 21 people in south and east London suspected of immigration offences and people-trafficking.

Dr David Kelly, a Ministry of Defence scientific expert on Iraqi weapons, was found dead near his home in Oxfordshire with a cut wrist and a container of pain-killers. Hours earlier he had appeared before the Commons foreign affairs select committee and, when asked if he was the main source for an article by Mr Andrew Gilligan that blamed Downing Street for 'sexing up' the government dossier on Iraq last September, he said, 'My belief is that I am not the main source.' Mr Andrew Mackinlay MP had said to him in a rough manner, 'I reckon you're chaff. You've been thrown up to divert our probing. Have you ever felt like a fall guy?

Miss Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said the government would build thousands of offshore wind turbines to supply up to a sixth of homes with electricity by 2010; the sites are in the Thames estuary, the Wash, and off the north-west coast between the Solway Firth and Rhyl. A government Bill to limit jury trials was defeated in the Lords by 210 to 136. Mr Tony Blair played host to 13 centre-left heads of state and government at a ‘Third Way’ conference at Bagshot, Surrey.

Tony Blair insisted that weapons of mass destruction will still be found in Iraq, even though none has been discovered yet. A committee of MPs acquitted Mr Blair's right-hand man, Alastair Campbell, of 'sexing up' a dossier about such weapons published in September 2002, but the committee said the claim that the weapons could be used within 45 minutes had been given undue prominence. It also said that Mr Blair had 'inadvertently made a bad situation worse' by misrepresenting the contents of the 'dodgy dossier' presented to Parliament in February 2003. The BBC, which reported the 'sexing up' allegation, turned down Mr Campbell's demands for an apology. The government announced plans to widen various roads. Its majority was cut to 35 when 62 Labour MPs voted against foundation hospitals.

The government set out some pretty rum plans for homosexual partnerships, securing tax benefits and severance by 'divorce', in a paper called 'Civil Partnership: A framework for the recognition of same-sex couples'. After a last-minute procedural concession by the government, the Commons voted by 362 to 154 for an outright ban on hunting. A High Court judge criticised the Health and Safety Executive for wasting public money by pursuing a £3 million prosecution, now dropped, of the Metropolitan Police for failing to warn policemen of the dangers of climbing on to roofs. The High Court upheld action by Oftel to reduce charges for telephoning from British Telecom to mobile telephone networks and between networks.

Mr Alastair Campbell, the director of communications at the Prime Minister's office, agreed to give evidence about statements on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction before the televised Commons foreign affairs committee. Earlier Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, had told the committee that the second dossier on the subject was commissioned by Mr Campbell and was a 'horlicks'. Four policemen were injured in the second night of disturbances on the Caia Park estate of 12,500 at Wrexham, north Wales, after clashes between local people and Iraqi Kurdish refugees (asylum-seekers whose applications had been accepted).

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, tried to abolish the Lord Chancellor overnight by ukase, and to reassign his powers. But Lord Irvine of Lairg disagreed and was sacked. Lord Falconer of Thoroton was made Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, but it was discovered that the Lords could not sit without a Lord Chancellor, so Lord Falconer had to take the Great Seal, dress in gown and wig and sit on the Woolsack. Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Conservative peers, said, 'If it is true that the Queen was not informed, then this is yet another example of discourtesy.' The hoo-ha overshadowed even the mysterious resignation of Mr Alan Milburn as Secretary of State for Health on the morning of the reshuffle; it was in favour of 'my life with my family', he said.

Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, told Parliament that only one of the five economic tests that would allow Britain to join the eurozone had been met; this was whether the City of London would remain Europe's leading financial centre. But Mr Brown said that at the next Budget he would 'consider the extent of progress and determine whether on the basis of the five economic tests which – if positive next year – would allow us at that time to put the issue before the British people in a referendum'. A Bill, stating the question to be asked, will be published this autumn. Mr Brown showed dissatisfaction with the rarity of fixed-rate mortgages and did not rule out using stamp duty and capital-gains tax to meddle with the market.

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, faced an investigation by the all-party Commons foreign affairs select committee into claims that he had misled the nation about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He said this week: 'Those people who are sitting there and saying, "It's all going to be proved to be a big fib got out by the security services, there will be no weapons of mass destruction," just wait and have a little patience.' He added, 'We are going to assemble that evidence and present it properly.' A dossier published last September had said, 'Intelligence indicates the Iraqi military is able to deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

Mr Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Wales, who is the government's representative to the convention that has published a draft constitution for the European Union, said, 'If people don't like what they get, they can vote against the government in the European elections next year' (on 10 June). But the government shied away from Mr Hain's remarks, lest they seemed an endorsement of a popular right to ratify the constitution. The opposition called for a referendum.

Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sent Cabinet ministers a 2,500-page dossier on the Treasury's assessment of the five economic tests applicable in deciding if Britain should join the euro-zone. The ministers were then invited in one by one for 'trilateral' talks with the Chancellor and Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister. The Cabinet's decision is to be announced and the mountain of documentation published on 9 June; if the recommendation is to join, of which there is no predictable chance, there will be a referendum. Mr Blair wants Britain to enter the zone, and the press was full of stories about his tussle with Mr Brown. Some people called for another referendum on the proposed new constitution for the European Union, masterminded by M.

Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, resigned on the pretext that the Prime Minister had broken his assurances that the UN would be more involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. Mr Blair, she told the Commons, should start thinking about resigning himself and prepare for 'an elegant succession'. Within half an hour, the Prime Minister had appointed Lady Amos to Ms Short's job, suggesting that he had been preparing to sack Ms Short anyway. An IRA hitman called Alfredo Scappaticci, said to be head of the organisation's 'nutting squad', was alleged to have been helping British intelligence for years under a codename 'Stakeknife' or 'Steak Knife'. Mr Scappaticci later denied it.

The Labour party suspended Mr George Galloway, an MP, from 'holding office or representing the party' while it investigated complaints that remarks he made during the war against Iraq might have constituted 'behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party'. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and Mr Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, attempted to reduce a rebellion by Labour MPs against their plans to introduce 'foundation' status for some hospitals. Car drivers will be charged £3 (or £1 at night) to use the 27-mile M6Toll motorway in the West Midlands, which opens in 2004.

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said before local elections that 'the issue of reform of public services in health, in education, in criminal justice – this is the big challenge that this government and the Labour party faces'. His words were seen partly as a warning to the Left of his party and partly as a demonstration that his mind was on domestic affairs. He then flew off to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin for talks about the future of Iraq; Mr Putin rejected Mr Blair's call for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq and emphasised that the existence of weapons of mass destruction must be resolved.

The Daily Telegraph said that documents found in the ruined Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad by a Daily Telegraph reporter were said to discuss payments to Mr George Galloway, the MP for Glasgow Kelvin. Mr Galloway said: 'I have never solicited, nor would I have accepted had I been offered, any financial assistance of any kind from the Iraqi regime.' Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, told the Sun how he had explained to his children that a Commons vote on the Iraq war might bring him down: 'I did sit down with them at one point and I explained that this was going to be extremely difficult and it was possible the thing could go against me,' he said.

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in a statement to Parliament about the war in Iraq, said, 'There is upon us a heavy responsibility to make the peace worth the war. We shall do so ...with a fixed and steady resolve that the cause was just, the victory right, and the future for us to make in a way that will stand the judgment of history.' Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said during a stop in Kuwait: 'There is much evidence of co-operation between the Syrian government and the Saddam regime in recent months.' But in a press conference in Bahrain he said, 'We have made it clear that there are no plans for Syria to be next on the list.' And Iran was a 'different case', he told the BBC in Bahrain. 'We've been developing better diplomatic relations with Iran.

An ICM poll in the Guardian found that 52 per cent approved of the war and 34 per cent opposed it; among Conservatives approval was 61 per cent, among Labour supporters 59 per cent and among Liberal Democrats 31 per cent. Mr Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, told Parliament that, with 45,000 British servicemen already sent to the war, 'what I am ruling out, at this stage at any rate, is the necessity for any substantial increase'. Mr Robin Cook, who resigned as Leader of the Commons before the war started, wrote in the Sunday Mirror: 'I have already had my fill of this bloody and unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed.' But on the day the article came out he said: 'I am not in favour of abandoning the battlefield.

That we will encounter more difficulties and anxious moments in the days ahead is certain,' Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said in the Commons after four days of war against Iraq, 'but no less certain, indeed more so, is coalition victory.' On the seventh day of the war he flew, with Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, to the United States for talks with President George Bush and Mr Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations. RAF Tornados attacked radar systems around Baghdad, and B52 bombers based at Fairford, Gloucestershire, flew nightly sorties to release computer-guided missiles against targets in Iraq.