Then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher asked academic and diplomat Lord Franks to examine claims that her government had been caught unawares by Argentina's 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands, and that the ensuing war had been avoidable.

Franks and his committee found that a hardening of Argentine's attitude in the three weeks before its invasion of the remote South Atlantic island chain had not been recognised in London.

But Franks concluded: "We would not be justified in attaching any criticism or blame on the government for the Argentine junta's decision to commit an act of unprovoked aggression".

The Falklands conflict, sparked by Argentina's invasion of the British-held islands, killed 648 Argentine soldiers and 255 British troops.

In a parliamentary debate after the Franks report, former Labour prime minister James Callaghan dismissed the findings as skewed.

"For 338 paragraphs he painted a splendid picture, delineated the light and the shade, and the glowing colours in it, and when Franks got to paragraph 339 he got fed up with the canvas he was painting, and chucked a bucket of whitewash over it," Callaghan said.

"Whitewash" was the word much of the British press used to describe a separate judicial report last week into the suicide of weapons expert David Kelly, which exonerated Blair and his ministers of wrongdoing.

The investigation conducted by senior Judge Brian Hutton instead blasted the BBC for claiming the government had deliberately exaggerated the case for war against Iraq.

Blair would doubtless be happy to emerge in as positive a light after the inquiry into intelligence on Saddam Hussein's supposed banned weapons hands over its findings before the end of July.

As well as Iraq, the new probe will look at "countries of concern" involved in weapons of mass destruction programmes.

Blair told senior lawmakers Tuesday that he wanted the probe to "proceed by consensus".

But the opposition Liberal Democrat Party immediately said it was unwilling to take part, claiming the probe's remit was too narrow and would not allow examination of the use Blair's government made of intelligence.

The committee handling the inquiry will be headed by Lord Robin Butler, a 66-year-old former head of Britain's civil service who served under five prime ministers.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the inquiry would have access to all intelligence assessments and would be able to call witnesses to give oral evidence in private.

The panel will include Ann Taylor, a member of the ruling Labour party who chairs parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the work of Britain's intelligence services.

Also on the committee will be Michael Mates, a senior deputy for the opposition Conservatives who previously chaired the House of Commons defence committee.

Other members, described by Blair as people "of repute and experience" will be career diplomat Sir John Chilcot and Field Marshall Lord Peter Inge, Chief of the Defence Staff from 1994 to 1997.

WAR.WIRE