Waldegrave accused in draft of Iraq report

Verdict of Scott inquiry delayed until autumn

John Major was threatened with a fresh crisis over arms to Iraq last night after a leak revealing that Lord Justice Scott's draft inquiry report had accused a Cabinet minster, William Waldegrave, of having given information to MPs which was "untrue" and "apt to mislead".

On the day it was learnt that publication of Sir Richard Scott's full report has been delayed until at least September, leaked sections of the report directly challenged Mr Waldegrave's explanation of why he had repeatedly said there had been no change of policy of defence sales after a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

The leak to the BBC concerns the first part of Sir Richard's report which deals with events in the late 1980s when Ministers and senior civil servants are alleged to have misled MPs and the public by denying the Government had changed its impartial policy on arms sales to favour the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

The Prime Minister was forced last night publicly to defend Mr Waldegrave, formerly a Foreign Office minister but now Minister of Agriculture, after the leak showed Sir Richard saying that he "had no hesitation" in rejecting Mr Waldegrave's explanations. The leaked draft says: "It is clear that policy did not remain unchanged."

The leak, described as "deplorable" by Mr Waldegrave, and "malicious" by the Prime Minister, also says of letters sent to MPs on the issue by Mr Major, during his short period as Foreign Secretary in 1989: "I do not accept that they were in fact accurate."

Sir Richard is reported as saying in his draft of Mr Major's ignorance, after taking office as Foreign Secretary in June 1989, that the policy had changed: "It might have been expected that by September Mr Major might have become aware."

Sir Richard is reported, however, as attributing responsibility for the inaccuracies in Mr Major's letters, which said the Government was pursuing "a policy of impartiality", to a "senior Foreign Office official" who saw them and approved them in draft.

In the document, leaked to BBC television's evening news, Sir Richard highlights letters sent by Mr Waldegrave to MPs. In one Mr Waldegrave states that "the Government has pursued a policy of impartiality". The judge rejected that, saying "Mr Waldegrave's letter ... and his other letters in like terms were apt to mislead the readers".

The judge said that faced with Mr Waldegrave's "strenuous and consistent" statements of belief that the policy had remained unchanged, despite evidence to the contrary, he had not received the impression of any insincerity on Mr Waldegrave's part. But he adds: "None the less, I have no hesitation in rejecting his explanations. It is clear that the policy did not remain unchanged."

Mr Waldegrave said last night: "This is a deplorable leak. The words are taken from some provisional views contained in a draft extract of Sir Richard Scott's report. The inquiry sent this to me in confidence for review. I utterly and totally reject the observations disclosed by the BBC. I am preparing my response. I'm confident that I will persuade the inquiry that these provisional views are wrong and unfair and that they should not appear in the final report."

Ministers face censure, page 3