The probe under senior judge Lord Hutton into the death of government scientist David Kelly will turn the spotlight on the role of Prime Minister Tony Blair's office, with the careers of several officials including Hoon hanging in the balance.

Kelly, who apparently committed suicide in July days after being grilled by two parliamentary committees, was caught up in a row between Downing Street and the BBC over a report that the government embellished the case for war on Iraq.

Hoon "will always remain loyal to the prime minister -- that goes without saying -- but to suggest that he had to admit to wrongdoing in order to stay loyal to Mr Blair is ridiculous," The Times quoted friends of the minister as saying.

The Hutton inquiry into the death of the UN arms expert found last week that Hoon himself had decided Kelly should testify in front of a parliamentary committee.

Two days after being grilled by the parliamentary foreign affairs committee on the conditions of Britain's entry into the war on Iraq, the arms expert apparently killed himself on July 17.

Hoon has reportedly told colleagues he accepts he must "carry the can" for Kelly's death.

According to this weekend's Sunday Telegraph, Hoon telephoned colleagues to tell them he expected to have to "fall on his sword" over the affair, which has triggered a major political crisis for Blair.

But Hoon's friends were quoted by The Times as saying, "He has said nothing and will say nothing until he goes before Lord Hutton. He is a lawyer and he knows that he can do nothing while the inquiry proceeds. He is happy to be judged by the inquiry and by the public opinion when the time comes."

Among those taking the stand between Monday and Thursday is the "sultan of spin", Blair's director of communications, Alastair Campbell.

The pugnacious former tabloid journalist was accused by a BBC radio journalist of inserting a sensational claim into a government dossier published last September that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in just 45 minutes.

Campbell, who has resisted calls to resign, is likely to face questions over whether his relentless pursuit of a complaint against the BBC story led to Kelly being exposed as the BBC's source for the controversial report.

The Guardian said on Monday: "It is understood that the (prime minister's) communications director will admit he had approved the 'naming strategy' but only after it had been proposed by Mr Hoon's department, the ministry of defence."

Friends of Hoon were quoted by the Guardian as saying he would vigorously defend his decisions, while the Financial Times quoted one as saying: "He will argue he behaved entirely appropriately and properly in relation to decisions he made at the time he made them."

Hoon, currently on holiday, is expected to be summoned to appear before Lord Hutton during the third week of the inquiry, reports said Monday.

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