Bloomberg:The U.K. Ministry of Defense said one of its officials met a British Broadcasting Corp. journalist who reported in May that government ministers exaggerated the case for war on Iraq, a week before his radio broadcast.

In an e-mailed statement, the ministry said the unidentified official ``is not a member of the Intelligence Services or the Defense Intelligence Staff.''

The statement may bolster Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in a row with the national broadcaster.

The row centers on an intelligence dossier published by Blair's office in September. It said Iraq had chemical and biological weapons ready to use at 45 minutes' notice. The BBC on May 29 quoted ``one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up the dossier'' as saying that Alastair Campbell, Blair's director of communications, ``sexed up'' the contents by insisting the 45 minute claim be included.