The BBC said that its controller of editorial policy, Stephen Whittle, would investigate whether the British government was given sufficient warning of a BBC radio report that London's dossier on Iraq had been "sexed-up".

It's story, broadcast by defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan on May 29, alleged that intelligence sources were unhappy about the inclusion in the government's dossier of the claim that Iraq could launch biological or chemical weapons within 45 minutes.

The BBC said that Whittle had launched the investigation in response to a letter from Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.

"The Secretary of State has written to the controller of editorial policy who has agreed to verify the sequence of events," a BBC spokesman said.

The BBC has up till now defended its handling of the story in lengthy correspondence with British Prime Minister Tony Blair's director of communications Alastair Campbell.

A top aide to Blair, Campbell has called on the public broadcaster to apologise, accusing it of "unethical journalism" and lies.

Campbell also refutes allegations that he personally "sexed-up" the 50-page dossier by insisting it state that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

The British government published its controversial dossier last September, six months before it launched war on Iraq alongside the United States.

WAR.WIRE