The intelligence and security committee has cleared Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" the Iraq dossier.

In a 57-page report MPs and peers hand down a verdict of innocent to the government's outgoing communications chief.

"We conclude that Alastair Campbell did not play any role in the inclusion of the 45 minutes claims in the September dossier," said the report. "We conclude on the basis of the evidence available to us that Alastair Campbell did not exert improper influence on the drafting of the September dossier."

And the committee dismissed suggestions that political pressure had been applied on the Joint Intelligence Committee.

"We are content that the JIC has not been subjected to political pressures and that its independent and impartiality has not been compromised in any way," concluded the committee.

"The dossier was not 'sexed up' by Alastair Campbell or anyone else."

But the Number 10 spin chief's involvement in the formulation of the second "dodgy dossier" comes in for strong criticism.

"We conclude that it is wholly unacceptable for the government to plagiarise work without attribution and to amend it without either highlighting the amendments or gaining the assent of the original author," said the committee.

"We further conclude that it was fundamentally wrong to allow such a document to be presented to parliament and made widely available without ministerial oversight."

Campbell is also criticised for chairing a meeting of intelligence officials to consider the presentational aspects of the dossier.

"We conclude that it was wrong for Alastair Campbell or any special adviser to have chaired a meeting on an intelligence matter, and we recommend that this practice cease."