There was also a renewed sense of urgency in the way this was being publicly debated.Dingemans: What was the aim of the dossier?Blair: To disclose the reason for our concern and the reason why we believed this issue had to be confronted.Dingemans: And had you been aware of the proposed role Mr Campbell was going to take in assisting with presentation?Blair: Well, I was in no doubt he would assist with the presentation. I also knew it had to be a document that was owned by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) and the chairman, John Scarlett. That was obviously important because we could not produce this as evidence that came from anything other than an objective source ... There was absolutely no reason for us to doubt that intelligence at all.Dingemans: Were you aware at all of Dr Kelly's involvement in any historic or current drafting of the dossier?Blair: No, I was not.Dingemans: Can I turn, now, to the 29 May Today broadcast. What was your reaction to that?Blair: Well, it was an extraordinary allegation to make and an extremely serious one ... the things that absolutely stood out and were extraordinary, in my view, were (1) that this 45 minutes claim had been inserted into the dossier at the behest of No 10 ; (2) that it was done by us I think the words were "probably knowing it was wrong"; and (3) that we had done it contrary to the wishes of the intelligence services. So, obviously it was an extremely serious allegation.Dingemans: What steps were taken to correct the record?Blair: Well, we issued a strong denial, which did not really go anywhere ...

the only way it was going to go away was if they said clearly and unequivocally that the original story was wrong and it was pretty obvious by then (12 June) that they were not going to ..."The fact is that the entire original allegation was an attack on our integrity. This was an attack that went to the heart of not just the office of Prime Minister but also the way our intelligence services operated. It went in a sense to the credibility, I felt, of the country.Dingemans: When was the first time you heard that a possible source for Mr Gilligan's story had come forward?Blair: I was away on a visit in the North-west on 3 July and I was telephoned by Jonathan Powell, my chief of staff.Dingemans: What did he say?Blair: We had a conversation about a whole series of things we were discussing but in the course of that conversation he said the Secretary of State for Defence had informed him that an official in the Ministry had come forward ... I said we had to proceed with caution.Dingemans: Were you given a name, at that time?Blair: I do not recall being given a name at that time I cannot recall when I first heard the name I mean, it may have been in these telephone conversations It may not have been. I do not think it was on 3 July, but at some point obviously in the next few days I was given the name. What did you do? Did you inform the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee immediately, which is one possibility and which I have no doubt afterwards people would have said to us we should have done.

Did you try and get greater clarity of whether this was indeed the source or not? So how did you handle this? ... We handled this by the book, in the sense of with the advice of senior civil servants.Dingemans: Did you, having received this letter (from Sir Kevin Tebbit), decide to take any further action?Blair: Well, I thought that what this letter indicated was effectively two things: (1) it was more probable that the particular individual was the source of the allegation by Mr Gilligan; and (2) the fact that the media were on to it ... We had to proceed in a way that Sir Kevin and David Omand were entirely content with, that we had to make sure that the MoD's internal -- because there were obviously personnel procedures that had to be gone through.Dingemans: What was your view about the situation with Dr Kelly now, in terms of disclosing the fact that someone had come forward?Blair: I thought that it was likely on the basis of what we had been told that he was the source ... he had been interviewed and reinterviewed and certainly, as it was relayed to me, it looked more likely than not that he was the source.Dingemans: So what was decided to be done about it?Blair: Well, the first thing was the question was: do you simply conceal this information? And the view of the meeting - it had been the view on the Monday and it was the view on the Tuesday - was that we could not properly do that .. How do we then proceed? We cannot conceal this information. 66 M Maritz (SA), F Andersson (Swe), I Poulter, G Evans, P Hedblom (Swe). "You can't drive everywhere with this kind of car."Seve Ballesteros' first appearance for four months is destined to be short after the Spaniard's 84, 12 over par, left him lying last of the 156-strong field by five shots.BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN (Munich): Leading first-round scores (GB and Irl unless stated: 62 R Jacquelin (Fr) 64 M Siem (Ger), T Bjorn (Den), D Howell, G Emerson 65 R Karlsson (Swe), P Casey, L Westwood.

He won a BMW Z8 for a hole-in-one two years ago and drove it to a tournament for the first time this week "I drive, it but not that often," he said. The Dane opened with eight pars at Nord-Eichenried, but then birdied eight of the final 10 holes to race home in 29 shots. Although sage enhanced immediate memory, it did not have the same effect when they were tested after 20 minutes.The herb is already being investigated as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, which affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide. In 1597 John Gerard wrote: "It is singularly good for the head and brain and quickeneth the nerves and memory." Part of a 1652 description of sage by Nicholas Culpepper reads: "It also heals the memory, warming and quickening the senses."Nicola Tildesley, chief researcher on the project - published in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour and funded by Oxford Natural Products -said: "This proves how valuable the work by the old herbalists is, and that they shouldn't be ignored because they were writing centuries ago."But the finding is unlikely to be of use to exam candidates.