This was a request to the Foreign Office for John Williams' 9 September 2002 draft of the dossier.

On 22 January 2008, the Information Tribunal rejected the Foreign Office's appeal against the Information Commissioner's decision, (5.06 MB pdf file) that the draft should be released. Tribunal Decision

The request was made by email on 9 February 2005. The Foreign Office repeatedly delayed making a decision until after the May 2005 General Election. On 20 May 2005, it wrote stating that it had decided not to disclose the draft, citing the exemption under s36(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act, that "To release the information would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation." It used this exemption in spite of the fact that many other drafts of the dossier and comments on the drafting process were already in the public domain, mainly on the Hutton Inquiry Website. However, the use of the exemption is itself an explicit statement that the government does not want the public to know what contribution a particular individual made towards the drafting of the dossier.

In a letter dated 11 August 2005 the Foreign Office upheld its decision and confirmed for the first time that it had the document. It also confirmed that the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had personally authorised the use of the exemption to withhold the information.