Campbell: I defend every single word of the dossier

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE:

“The meticulous nature of the September dossier, I will defend to the end of my days”.

Alastair Campbell is giving evidence at the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War today, and is rigorously defending the process which led to the invasion in 2003.

Here are some of the highlights of what Campbell has said in London, which I’ll update throughout the afternoon:

“I defend every single word of the dossier; I defend every single part of the process.”

“At no point did anybody, from the Prime Minister down, say you’ve got to tailor [the dossier]“.

“I don’t believe the document in any sense misrepresented the intelligence.”

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation [about the dossier] if it weren’t for the controversy that subsequently ensued”.

“You seem to be wanting me to say that Tony Blair was going to get rid of [Saddam] regardless of WMD. It wasn’t like that.”

“If the diplomatic route fails, Britian would see it as its responsibility to take action.”

“If military action became the only route, [Blair] would want to persuade the cabinet.”

Andrew Sparrow at the Guardian is keeping a rolling live blog.