London: British Government is expected shortly to order an enquiry into the intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on which it based its decision to go to war in Iraq, a move that looked unavoidable after US President George Bush's decision to set up a panel to get the US' pre-war intelligence investigated.

The announcement in this regard is expected to be made today (Feb 3, 2004) by Prime Minister Tony Blair during his appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, a Blair's spokesman said.

He said the Government thought it fit to address all questions about its pre-war assessment of Iraq's WMD capabilities after the Hutton report cleared it of allegations that it interfered with, falsified or hyped the intelligence on WMD.

Blair's announcement will come after months of resisting the growing demands that the Government allow an independent enquiry to probe its "intelligence failure" with regard to Iraq's weapons capability. Despite several months of occupation, the US-UK coalition has failed to find any WMD in Iraq.

Officials at Downing Street denied that Blair has been bounced into the move by Washington's change of heart.

They insisted he had always intended to ask "valid" questions about intelligence after Lord Hutton's inquiry.

Experts are not buying the Government's explanations. They say Blair had no option but to follow Bush in conceding an enquiry.

Earlier Blair had stonewalled the demands for an enquiry, saying that people should wait until the Iraq Survey Group, which is hunting for weapons, produces its final report.

The expected inquiry is likely to be conducted by a committee of MPs (Members of Parliament) and peers, possibly with an independent Chairman.