Civil servants to speak out

Civil servants criticised by the Scott arms-for-Iraq report will be allowed to defend themselves in public when it is published next week, writes Chris Blackhurst.

Senior Whitehall sources confirmed last night that officials will be able to make on-the-record statements defending their positions. This unprecedented step was being taken, said a senior official, "because of the exceptional circumstances of the Scott inquiry".

The move could lead to a ground-breaking - and for the Government, politically unedifying - explosion of arguments raging backwards and forwards across Whitehall.

Around 60 officials at the Foreign Office, Department of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Defence could be in the Scott firing line. Ministers have taken the unprecedented decision to allow them to go public for fear of accusations that officials will be made scapegoats.