BBC head to appear before Hutton
Senior judge Lord Hutton has announced the first witnesses to give evidence as part of the second phase of his inquiry into the death of Ministry of Defence scientist Dr David Kelly.
The first witnesses to appear before the inquiry panel include BBC Director General Greg Dyke and former chief of defence intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, Air Marshal Sir Joe French.
Both men will give evidence before the inquiry panel on Monday.
Other witnesses will include former deputy chief of defence intelligence Tony Cragg and Dr Richard Scott, from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
Mr Dyke will be quizzed about BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s story in which he claimed that the controversial September dossier on Iraqi weapons was “sexed up” by Downing Street.
All witnesses announced today will be appearing before the inquiry for the first time. Details of witnesses being recalled to give evidence during the second stage of the Hutton Inquiry will be announced on Monday.
Defence secretary Geoff Hoon is widely expected to be recalled, while analysts have also suggested that the Prime Minister, former Downing Street press chief Alastair Campbell, Mr Gilligan and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee John Scarlett will also reappear.
Lord Hutton wrote to all concerned this week in preparation for the second stage of the inquiry.
In a statement last week he stressed that being recalled does not imply that witnesses will be criticised in his final report, however he announced that all parties facing criticism would be recalled to give evidence a second time.
Lord Hutton plans to write the final report after the inquiry adjourns again on September 25th.
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after he became embroiled in a row between the BBC and the government over allegations relating to weapons intelligence tampering in the lead up to the Iraq war.
Mr Hoon has faced heavy criticism over his perceived role in the naming of Dr Kelly and for his failure to divulge the extent of concerns within the Ministry of Defence over the controversial September dossier on Iraq arms.
A report from the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) released yesterday stated that Mr Hoon had ‘potentially misled’ them and they found it ‘disturbing’ that he had not passed on letters from intelligence officials expressing concern about the contents of the dossier.
The Conservative Party has called for Mr Hoon to ‘do the honourable thing’ and resign and Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith described the Defence Secretary’s job as ‘hanging in the wind.’
