Blair faces Kelly report in two weeks

Senior British judge Lord Hutton will publish his potentially explosive report into last year's suicide of an Iraq weapons expert on January 28, in a week that could define Prime Minister Tony Blair's future.

Government scientist David Kelly slashed his wrist in a deserted copse last July after being exposed as the source for a BBC reporter's claim that Mr Blair's team inflated the threat posed by Iraq, to justify war.

The government helped make Dr Kelly's name public and is likely to be criticised.

"Lord Hutton's report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Doctor David Kelly will be... published in parliament on Wednesday 28 January," the Lord Hutton inquiry said in a statement.

On his verdict could rest the fate of senior ministers, government mandarins and BBC chiefs, maybe even Mr Blair himself.

Mr Blair has said he will resign if the report finds he lied. It will be unveiled just one day after the premier faces a make-or-break vote in parliament on controversial plans to make students pay more for higher education.

Rebels in his Labour Party are determined to defeat Mr Blair, posing another seismic threat to his authority.

If he loses and is then personally criticised by Lord Hutton, his Conservative opponents, rejuvenated under combative leader Michael Howard, will pounce.

On the day, Lord Hutton will read a summary of his findings in court and Mr Blair will make a full statement to parliament.

The no-nonsense judge will give interested parties, but nobody else, 24 hours to read the report before it comes out.

He will then slip into retirement - giving him nothing to lose or fear from the establishment.

Through summer 2003, the inquiry gripped Britain and polls showed public trust in Mr Blair fading.