ISC chair irked by No 10
The chairwoman of the ISC has criticised No 10 for attempting to “bounce” her committee into naming Dr David Kelly.
The chairwoman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), Ann Taylor, told Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry yesterday of her irritation with Downing Street’s press office, which she accused of trying to “bounce” her committee into naming Dr David Kelly.
She told Lord Hutton: “If the government, ministry of defence, or any other part of the government, wanted to make a public statement about somebody coming forward as a possible source, then they should do that, not do it by way of a letter to the committee.
“We did not want to be party to something which was probably being bounced on us.”
On day 10 of the inquiry, she also explained why she rejected a proposal from Sir David Omand of the Cabinet Office who suggested a letter could be sent out informing the ISC that the informant had come forward.
The idea was “inappropriate,” she said.
She also told the Hutton inquiry why her colleagues decided not to interview BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan.
Ms Taylor said her committee wanted to avoid complicating its investigation into the intelligence dossiers by drawing itself into the battle between the BBC and the government.
The war of words between the BBC and the PM’s director of communications, Alastair Campbell, was a “marginal” issue, she said, although it did affect proceedings, “in intelligence terms” to some extent.
The Hutton inquiry was set up in the wake of the apparent suicide of Dr David Kelly, the man widely believed to be the “source” in Andrew Gilligan’s report that the government’s September Iraq dossier was “sexed up” by Mr Campbell to bolster the case for regime change in Iraq,
The inquiry heard that Dr Kelly told the ISC that the “45 minutes” clause had found its way into the dossier to add more “impact” to the government’s contention that Saddam Hussein was a threat to his Middle Eastern neighbours.
In an email to Downing Street six days before the September dossier was published, Mrs Taylor cautioned that the intelligence report contained insufficient evidence on Iraq’s WMD capacity to warrant a military strike against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.
“Hardest question not answered. Why Saddam Hussein and why now,” Mrs Taylor wrote.
