So says the Torygraph (subscription required):
Downing Street secured vital changes to the Butler Report before its publication, watering down an explicit criticism of Tony Blair and the way he made the case for war in the House of Commons.
The Telegraph has established that the disagreement between No 10 and Lord Butler's inquiry team centred on a passage in an original draft of the report about Mr Blair's statement to MPs in September 2002. The original passage drew a much clearer contrast than the final version of the Butler Report between the strong case for war made by Mr Blair and the weakness of the intelligence the Prime Minister received about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
The changes secured by No 10 diluted the criticism of Mr Blair and helped Downing Street to mount its main defence - that the report showed that the Prime Minister was acting in good faith.
A member of Lord Butler's team has disclosed to The Telegraph that changes were made at the behest of No 10. However, the inquiry member also revealed that on the day he published his report, Lord Butler was preparing publicly to distance himself from Mr Blair if asked at his only press conference whether the PM should resign.
The changes to the report diluted the criticism of Mr Blair.
"It was not his job to bring down the Government," the inquiry member said. "But he was not going to back Blair either."
Given the bias of the paper, everything should be taken with a grain of salt. However, it does not appear this story is over yet. Comments from across the pond are welcome. The main page link is here.
Note that David Kay has not gone away either. From the Scotsman:
Blair and Bush 'Should Have Realised Pre-War Truth on Wmd'
By Gavin Cordon, Whitehall Editor, PA News
Tony Blair and George Bush should have realised before the war that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, the man who led the hunt for the missing weapons said today.
David Kay, the former head of the Iraq Survey Group, said the reports of the Butler Inquiry and the Senate Intelligence Committee in America, together painted a picture of a "broken" system for intelligence gathering and assessment.
"I think they are a scathing indictment," he said in an interview for ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme.
Also note that the more trouble Blair is in, the more trouble it makes for Bush. Even the American media can connect those dots.