BBC chief admits ‘mistakes’ in Kelly affair
BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies has admitted that he made ‘mistakes’ in his handling of the row between the corporation and the Government.
Mr Davies was appearing before Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of former weapons inspector Dr David Kelly for the second time.
He admitted to the inquiry that he and the corporation’s governors had misgivings about the way the affair had been dealt with and they accepted their responsibility in the handling of Dr Kelly.
However, he strongly defended defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s story in which he alleged that the Government ‘sexed up’ a dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to strengthen the case for war.
Speaking at the Royal Courts of Justice, he said: ‘We were faced with an unprecedented attack on our integrity.’
But, he did admit that the majority of governors believed Number 10 could have been given better notice of Mr Gilligan’s story.
Quizzed by Government QC Jonathan Sumption, Mr Davies insisted that the corporation’s governors would not have backed the BBC’s management during the Iraq dossier row ‘for the sake of it’.
He stated categorically that: ‘We were not questioning the integrity of the Prime Minister.’
Asked by Andrew Caldecott QC, counsel for the BBC, about a meeting of governors on July 6th, Mr Davies told the inquiry: ‘The governors did suggest that management had committed some failings in the previous several weeks.’
He said the governors had never sought the identity of Mr Gilligan’s source, but added that now he did know more about the informant he was happy with the credibility of his information.
Patrick Lamb, a colleague of Dr Kelly at the Foreign Office, said his friend was a ‘sensitive man’ who would have been disturbed by comments referring to him as the ‘MoD mole’.
Mr Lamb, who was in charge of authorising what contact Dr Kelly had with the media, said the scientist had acted improperly in speaking to Mr Gilligan without approval.
Wednesday is the last of 22 days of oral evidence to the inquiry, which began on August 11th. Closing statements by counsel and Lord Hutton start on Thursday.
Ministry of Defence scientist Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after he was revealed to be source of Mr Gilligan’s story.
