The claim that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45-minutes arose as British intelligence were "squeezing" agents in Iraq for information, under pressure from Downing Street to back up its case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"The provenance of this information was never questioned in detail until after the Iraq invasion, when it became apparent that something was wrong," he said.
"In the end it turned out that the information was not credible, it had originated from an emigre taxi driver on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, who had remembered an overheard conversation in the back of his cab a full two years earlier."
From
(Edit - forgot to thank
peteyoung for the link) 