08 January 2004	Thursday	15 Ziqa'ad 1424

LONDON, Jan 7: British Prime Minister Tony Blair indicated on Wednesday that he'll quit if it's proven that he lied in the case of David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence expert on Iraqi weapons who died in mysterious circumstances.

But, resuming his weekly question period in parliament after the Christmas break, Blair refused to debate what might be the findings of a much-awaited judicial inquiry into Kelly's death.

"The prime minister has said that a minister in a government he leads should resign if that minister lied to parliament," said opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard as he tried to grill Blair on the Kelly affair.

"Does that apply to the prime minister himself?" he asked. To which Blair replied: "Of course it applies to me, as it applies to all ministers." "But since we are about to have a report that will indeed decide whether people have not lied to parliament, isn't it sensible to wait for the report rather than having this absurd preliminary now?"

Kelly, 59, was found dead with a slit wrist on July 18 not long after he was exposed as the source of a BBC radio news report in May alleging that Downing Street had "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.-AFP