Analysis: Difficult task for Blair
By Robin Oakley
CNN European Political Editor
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CNN's Robin Oakley reporting from the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- If Geoff Hoon was a man fighting for his political life, as most commentators in Britain believe, he did not cut a very impressive figure before the inquiry looking into the death of weapons expert David Kelly -- even though Hoon has legal training himself.
As a man in control of his department, there were real questions.
For example, the British defense secretary did not seem to know who had written the drafts of letters he sent to key figures in the controversy over Kelly's death and a government dossier on Iraq's weapons.
Hoon did not have a representative at a key meeting in Downing Street that decided what he and his department were going to do about the naming of Kelly.
At one stage, he even had a lunch in the defense ministry canteen before the row blew up, after which Kelly had a chat with him. And it seems that Hoon did not ask his private secretary the identity of the man he had been speaking with.
He confessed to the inquiry he did not even know it had been Kelly until he met his family after the weapons scientist's death.
The key thing to be established was how much of a role Hoon and his department played in the identification of Kelly for grilling by a House of Commons committee, putting him under a strain it seems he could not live with.
With Prime Minister Tony Blair due to give evidence to the inquiry Thursday, the intriguing thing is that Hoon has in several instances given evidence of how Downing Street was calling the tune -- and how he was their willing servant.
A key letter was drafted by Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, and there were lots of conversations between Hoon and Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell. So it seems Hoon has been taking the line from Downing Street.
He has maintained all along there was no plan, no strategy, no conspiracy to bring Kelly's name into the public domain, though he always thought it was inevitable.
There was very helpful evidence on Tuesday from Sir John Scarlett, the intelligence chief who compiled the September 2002 dossier on Iraq, backing the government line that there had not been political interference with the dossier -- and that was good news for Blair.
But the more evidence we have seen from this inquiry, the more the public opinion polls have measured a lack of faith in Blair, a belief that the government meddled in the dossier politically, and the feeling that people have lost trust in the government and the prime minister.
When Blair appears before the inquiry on Thursday, he has a really big task on his hands.
