Prime Minister Tony Blair?s spy chief and his closest aides are likely to bear the brunt of criticism in a report on intelligence failings in Britain?s case for invading Iraq, newspapers say.

Speculation about who will get the blame in the Butler report into the use of evidence about Iraq?s banned weapons has been rife ahead of its release on Wednesday and the intelligence community has been quick to point the finger at Blair.

Any direct criticism of Blair could be highly damaging on the eve of two by-elections to vote in new lawmakers and ahead of an expected general election next year.

In a BBC television programme aired yesterday, John Morrison, former deputy chief of defence intelligence said: ?The Prime Minister was going way beyond anything any professional analyst would have agreed?, by saying Saddam Hussein posed a serious threat.

Brian Jones, former head of the Ministry of Defence?s Intelligence Branch, said he was ?confused? when Blair told a previous inquiry into the suicide of an Iraq weapons expert that there was a lot of evidence about Saddam?s arms programmes. ?Certainly, no one on my staff had any visibility of large quantities of evidence of that sort?, he told the Panorama programme.

The Sunday Times said the Butler report would reprimand John Scarlett, who was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and took responsibility for a dossier which said Iraq could have fired weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes? notice.

The claim has been discredited and Blair said last week that biological and chemical weapons may never be found.

The Sunday Telegraph said Blair?s chief of staff Jonathan Powell was due to be the main target because his role in presenting intelligence was wider than his post as an adviser justified. ?Going for Jonathan is the closest you can get to the prime minister without hitting him,? one official was quoted as saying. Papers said Blair and his advisers would also be criticised for his style of command and ?effectively suspending cabinet government? in taking decisions.

Meanwhile, Senior ministers rallied round Tony Blair yesterday in an attempt to bury speculation over threats to his leadership ahead of a tough week which will put Iraq back at the top of Britain?s political agenda. Analysts say as long as British soldiers remain in Iraq, the issue will continue to dog Blair.

A YouGov poll in the Mail on Sunday showed 53 percent believed Blair should resign if the report said the government exaggerated weapons claims. Some 70 percent would want Scarlett, since promoted to head the MI6 overseas intelligence agency, to step down.

Blair considered resigning last month but was persuaded to stay on by senior colleagues, the BBC reported on Saturday. His office made no comment on the report, saying he had repeatedly insisted when asked about his future that he would lead the Labour Party into a third general election.

The Butler report follows a scathing US. Senate committee report that said US spy agencies overstated the threat of Iraqi weapons, relied on dubious sources and ignored contrary evidence before last year?s US-led invasion.

Alison Williams