LONDON, Aug 1: British Prime Minister Tony Blair will take the rare step of appearing before a judicial inquiry that begins investigating the suicide of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly later this month.

Mr Blair, already suffering a collapse in public trust over his case for the invasion of Iraq, will be grilled by the inquiry head, Lord Hutton, about how Mr Kelly came to be named as the source of a BBC report that Britain exaggerated the weapons threat from Iraq.

In a preliminary hearing on Friday, Lord Hutton insisted he would not be swayed by either side of an acrimonious standoff between Britain’s government and its public broadcaster.

“It is I and I alone who will decide what witnesses will be called,” the judge said after opening the hearing with a minute’s silence for Mr Kelly, a softly-spoken scientist who took his life after finding himself at the heart of the government-BBC row.

“At some stage...I propose to ask the prime minister and the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Geoff Hoon, to give evidence,” Lord Hutton said.

Mr Blair has already agreed to appear and has even offered to break off his Caribbean holiday, if necessary, to give evidence.—Reuters