SENIOR officials responsible for compiling the Government's dossier on Iraqi weapons ignored concerns among the intelligence analysts about key claims in the document, the Hutton Inquiry was told yesterday.

The inquiry heard that the "shutters came down" on the dossier before reservations among intelligence officials had a chance to be properly considered.

In what was said to be a highly unusual move, the inquiry heard evidence that the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) - responsible for the dossier - did not even meet to discuss the final version.

The inquiry also heard how officials in the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) - the intelligence arm of the Ministry of Defence - had expressed resentment at what they saw as political interference in their work from Government "spin merchants".

The inquiry was set up to investigate how weapons expert David Kelly apparently came to take his own life after being identified as the source of a BBC story claiming the dossier had been "sexed up" to strengthen the case for war.

Brian Jones, a senior DIS scientist who headed a section looking at nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction (WMD), said his staff had been "concerned and unhappy" at the way their intelligence had been used in the dossier.

A series of reservations and proposed amendments were discussed at a meeting in the department on September 19, which Dr Kelly attended.

Dr Jones, who has since retired, said that normally such issues would be raised at the JIC - which includes the heads of all the intelligence agencies - but that did not happen on this occasion.

Following its regular weekly meeting on September 18, Dr Jones said that he did not believe there was another full meeting of the JIC until after the dossier was published on September 24.

He said: "The impression I had was that, on September 19, the shutters were coming down on this particular paper. The discussion and the argument had been concluded.

"It was an impression that I had at the time that our reservations about the dossier were not being reflected in the final version."

Dr Jones, who described himself at the time as "probably the most senior and experienced intelligence official working on WMD", said he had been so concerned he took the rare step of writing formally to his director at the DIS.

He said: "I only had cause to express this sort of reservation, after the shutters had come down, on one occasion, maybe two.

"In 15 years of dealing with this process it was very unusual to have to do that."

In particular, he said there had been reservations among DIS officials about the controversial claim that some Iraqi weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes.

Much of the concern had focused on the source of the information. Although the source in Iraq who had reported the information was regarded as reliable, he had obtained the information secondhand.

There had even been worries that it could have been deliberate misinformation, although this was not raised by the collectors of the intelligence - presumably MI6.

Dr Jones said that he and his team had been worried about the lack of any collateral intelligence to support the 45-minute claim.

"We hadn't seen weapons being produced. We hadn't seen any evidence of field trials," he said.

At the same time, he said his leading expert on chemical weapons had expressed doubts about claims in the dossier about Iraq's capacity to produce chemical weapons.

"They were really about the tendency in certain areas, from his point of view, to, shall we say, over-egg certain assessments, particularly in relation to the production of chemical weapons," Dr Jones said.

"He was concerned that he couldn't point to solid evidence of such production. He didn't dismiss that it may have happened and there was certain evidence that it could have happened, but he didn't have good evidence that it had happened."

The Conservatives said the evidence showed the need for a judicial inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq.

David Willetts, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "Today's evidence casts further doubt over Downing Street denials of improper conduct in drawing up the September dossier.

"Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell said they did not sex it up. But now one top official has said that it was 'over-egged'.

"Three points are now clear: first, the Government has painted a misleading picture of Dr Kelly's involvement in the dossier. They said he was a middle-ranking official and a Walter Mitty character.

"Secondly, Number 10 interfered in the dossier's drafting, went against expert advice and apparently did not follow procedures for the assessment and of intelligence.

"Thirdly, the Government's presentation of intelligence before the war is now looking increasingly discredited.