Dead Scientist Probe Snares UK's Blair

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's defense secretary rejected advice that he shield Iraq (news - web sites) weapons expert David Kelly from a hostile public grilling just days before he committed suicide, an inquiry into his death revealed on Thursday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) also became personally involved in discussions about how to deal with the scientist, as suspicion grew that Kelly was the source of a BBC report accusing Blair of exaggerating Iraq's weapons threat.

The revelations will pile more pressure on the government and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon in particular. He has yet to answer tough questions over how the quiet scientist was thrust into the public glare.

The inquiry under judge Lord Hutton is also a key test for Blair. His public trust ratings have plunged over the failure to find banned weapons in Iraq and the handling of Kelly's death.

The threat from biological and chemical weapons was the main reason London gave for waging a war most Britons opposed.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair became enmeshed in the inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly on Thursday as it was revealed how the hunt to discover whether the scientist was the source of the "sexed up " dossier claim reached the highest levels of the Government.

In a day of extraordinary evidence the Inquiry heard that the Prime Minister had personally ordered the intelligence services to escalate the investigation into the scientist who had been assured the matter was closed after an official interview.

It was also revealed that Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon had ignored the advice of his most senior civil servant and exposed Dr David Kelly to public questioning by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee after consulting Downing Street.

With pressure mounting over the failure to find Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, there were frantic efforts in Whitehall to track down the mole who had told BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan that Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's director of communications, had manipulated last September's dossier.

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