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Brit ish Prime Minister Tony Blair, back home today following a gruelling four-nation tour, was hurled straight into a political storm caused by the apparent suicide of an arms expert at the centre of claims Britain "sexed-up" its case for war on Iraq.

Blair arrived in London late last night after a 12-hour flight from Hong Kong following a week-long whistle-stop tour of the US, Japan, South Korea and China.

The Prime Minister had cut short his visit to Hong Kong by one day to escape a powerful storm, typhoon Imbudo that was headed towards the territory.

But Blair faced an immediate political storm back home as he attempted to draw a line under his biggest crisis since coming to power in 1997.

Blair has faced calls to resign and seen his popularity plummet in opinion polls following the apparent suicide of weapons expert David Kelly last Friday.

Following Kelly's death, the BBC said that the arms expert had been the main source for its report in May that said Blair's office "sexed-up" a dossier on Iraq in the run-up to war against the wishes of intelligence chiefs.

The row centres on a headline-grabbing claim in the September dossier that Baghdad could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

The Independent newspaper today revealed that Kelly had close links to Britain's spy services and thus was well placed to judge whether Blair's office had indeed "sexed-up" the threat posed by Iraq prior to the war in March.

Citing senior government sources, the paper said Kelly was asked by Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee, responsible for compiling the dossier, to assess Iraq's weapon-making material.

"One only has to look at his work history to realise how extensive his contact has been with the world of intelligence," a government source told the paper.

Kelly's body was discovered last Friday in woods close to London as Blair was en-route to Tokyo from Washington.

The government followed up confirmation of his death by announcing a full independent judicial inquiry into the affair.

Kelly, a defence ministry consultant, was found with his wrist slashed, days after he was grilled by a parliamentary committee investigating claims in the media that he had been the BBC's main source.

Among the first people Blair was expected to meet following his return to Britain was Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, said by the Financial Times to have personally authorised a media strategy that led to Kelly being named as the source.

The business daily said in a report published earlier this week that Hoon's direct involvement meant he could be forced to resign if the independent inquiry criticises the way the government treated the scientist.

Meanwhile a YouGov survey released Monday revealed that 39% of British voters would like Blair to quit over the affair.

Blair promised during his tour of Asia to "cooperate fully" with the judicial investigation into Kelly's death as he denied being responsible for "outing" the arms expert.

Both London and Washington had claimed the war on Iraq in March was justified by Saddam Hussein's refusal to give up weapons of mass destruction but four months on, no convincing proof has yet been uncovered that Baghdad had such weapons. – Sapa-AFP.

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