Blair was asked about Dr Kelly's committee appearances

The note was drawn up by one of the prime minister's official spokesmen, Godric Smith.

It came up during evidence on Thursday as the prime minister was asked about whether the government had wanted Dr David Kelly to appear before two committees after he admitted speaking to a BBC reporter.

A key element of the inquiry are the events leading to Dr Kelly giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee (FAC) and the intelligence and security committee (ISC).

James Dingemans, counsel to the inquiry, said the note appeared "to indicate that in the minds of people working in No 10 there was a desire to use Dr Kelly's evidence before the committees".

MoD announcement

Mr Blair seemed temporarily thrown off course by the document, which some commentators have interpreted as a suggestion that Downing Street was pressing the foreign affairs committee over Dr Kelly.

The memo was sent in an e-mail on the day after the Ministry of Defence announced that an official - now known to be Dr Kelly - had come forward to admit speaking to the BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan.

The document was sent from Mr Smith to Downing Street colleague Clare Sumner.

SEE THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS Godric Smith e-mail (PDF file 23KB) Solicitor's explanatory letter (PDF file 46KB) Download and install the reader here All the PDF files from the Hutton Inquiry on the BBC website are covered by Crown Copyright and may not be used without Crown Copyright acknowledgement by third parties

It was published by the inquiry along with a letter to Mr Dingemans from the treasury solicitor, dated 26 August.

The treasury solicitor says the document came to light after Mr Smith gave evidence last week, that it had not been opened until after the Hutton inquiry was announced and that it was not acted on.

The letter says the document was aimed at explaining to Ms Sumner the significance of comments by Mr Gilligan to the foreign affairs committee.

The letter goes on: "It seems to us it does not add anything to the evidence you have already heard from No 10 witnesses."

Comments

The document from Mr Smith says: "We believe we need to see AG, RS and source."

That is believed to refer to Mr Gilligan, BBC director of news Richard Sambrook and Dr David Kelly.

The note goes on: "If the individual who has come forward is the same source as the BBC source then we know now he is not a senior intelligence source which we believe would be material to our inquiry."

It goes on to say that comments by Andrew Gilligan to Tory MP John Maples during the committee hearing about speaking to just one source for his reports would also "be material to our inquiry".

It ends: "Either way there are important questions which need to be addressed in order for us to try and resolve this issue."

Assumption

Mr Blair told the inquiry: "The trouble is I did not see this at the time, so I mean I would not know.

"I think that looking ...the assumption was that these committees would want to interview Dr Kelly."

He went on: "There was a remote prospect that the FAC may say no but I did not think they were likely to say no.

"I thought they were likely to say yes. Therefore it does not surprise me people were talking about whether this evidence was going to be difficult for us or unhelpful or helpful.

"I obviously asked at a very early stage: what is Dr Kelly likely to say if he appears in front of these committees?

"But it was not - I do stress this, it was not any part of our decision-making as to whether the FAC decided to call him or not."

Resist

Mr Blair said it was a matter for the two committees whether they wanted to interview the scientist.

If the ISC or the FAC had said they did not want to interview him, that was absolutely fine Tony Blair

The note comes after other e-mails from Mr Blair's staff were revealed on the issue of Dr Kelly giving evidence.

In one the prime minister's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, says "we should certainly get them (the intelligence and security committee or ISC) to interview Gilligan and source".

Another e-mail, sent on behalf of government communications chief Alastair Campbell, says "surely it is in our interest for the ISC to delve deeply into this, by interviewing the source and Gilligan and myself".

Another note from Ms Sumner to Mr Campbell, and copied to Mr Powell and joint intelligence committee chairman John Scarlett said the ISC clerk had said the committee was "not interested" in interviewing Mr Gilligan.

The note says the clerk said he "could not see the point of the ISC" seeing the source (Dr Kelly) "and said they were not interesting in the BBC/AC (Alastair Campbell) row".

'Fine'

The ISC did subsequently take evidence from Dr Kelly, as did the foreign affairs committee.

Mr Dingemans asked Mr Blair if it was fair to suggest that the emails indicated "a desire to use Dr Kelly's appearance on the scene for the government's purposes".

Mr Blair said: "If the ISC or the FAC had said they did not want to interview him, that was absolutely fine.

"But if they did want to interview him then obviously it was potentially important for the government but it could, as I say, equally in the end have turned out to be unhelpful."

Mr Blair said he was not aware of a view that there were advantages in Dr Kelly being interviewed by the committees.

He went on: "But the one thing that was for sure was that it would not be for us to decide whether he was interviewed by the FAC or the ISC or not."