Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair asked for a claim that Saddam Hussein could make an ``improvised nuclear device'' within months be put back into a dossier days before its publication, the Financial Times said, citing documents published by a probe into the death of a scientist.

John Scarlett, the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, refused on the grounds that there was no supporting intelligence, the paper reported.

``The prime minister . was worried about the way you have expressed the nuclear issue . can we not go back, on timings, to 'radiological device' in months?'' Blair's head of communications, Alastair Campbell, wrote to Scarlett in an e- mail, according to the newspaper.

Lord Hutton, one of Britain's most senior judges, is conducting a probe into the circumstances surrounding the death of the scientist, David Kelly. Blair's popularity has ebbed amid the allegations his office ``sexed up'' evidence to parliament aimed at winning support for the war.

(Financial Times 8-25 1)

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