Lord Hutton, the judge heading the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, British expert on Iraq's banned weapons, said Monday it will be for him alone to decide the scope of the investigation.

"I make it clear that it will be for me to decide as I think right within my terms of reference the matters which will be the subject of my investigation," Hutton said.

Hutton also claimed in a statement that he intended to carry out the inquiry "urgently" and to conduct most of it in public.

Hutton added that the government had stated "it will provide mewith the fullest cooperation" and expects all other authorities and parties to do the same.

The inquiry was announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after Kelly's body was found in woodland near his home in Oxfordshire, central-southern England, on Friday.

It also comes as pressure mounts on the BBC following its confirmation on Sunday that Kelly was the principal source for itsstory claiming Downing Street had exaggerated intelligence about Iraqi weapons to justify war.

The peer said he intended to explain how he would conduct the inquiry in public "in the near future," but the timing would take account of the date of Kelly's funeral and the inquest into his death.

Hutton is expected to look into two crucial points -- how Kelly's name was made public, and what exactly he said when he met BBC correspondents to talk about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, a BBC report said.

Earlier, Blair, who is still on his Asian tour, has rejected opposition calls for the inquiry to examine the wider issue of thegovernment's use of intelligence on Iraq and for a recall of Parliament.

Asked if he would block Hutton broadening the scope of the inquiry into the general case for war with Iraq, Blair said, "I think it is important that he does what he's been asked to do."

The prime minister has already confirmed he will personally give evidence to the inquiry.

Government officials from Downing Street and the Defense Ministry, as well as the BBC, are also expected to be questioned.

Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers Monday called on the extension of the probe to examine the government's use of intelligence to justify war on Iraq.

Robin Cook, former House of Commons leader who resigned over Iraq war, said it would be impossible for Hutton to get to the bottom of Kelly's death without wading into the wider question of the government's case for war.

"The pity is that it did not do so a couple of months ago when it first became evident that it could not find any real weapons of mass destruction," Cook wrote in The Independent newspaper.

Another Blair's former cabinet minister, Clare Short, accused the government of attacking the BBC in order to distract attention from questions about why it went to war.

"It's all part of a distraction from the real issues, how did we get to war in Iraq?" Short told BBC radio.

A poll published Monday showed Blair has suffered huge damage to his reputation among voters as a direct result of the death of Kelly and the government's bitter dispute with the BBC.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2003)