Second reporters’ evidence appears to confirm Gilligan’s claim
Newsnight’s science correspondent, Susan Watts, the second BBC reporter to give evidence in the Dr David Kelly “dodgy dossier” affair, last night said she was told that Alastair Campbell had changed the contents of the document.
Her appearance on the second day of Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry into Dr Kelly’s apparent suicide, came after BBC defence correspondent, Andrew Gilligan, who broke the story on Downing Street’s role in deliberately sexing up the September dossier on Iraq’s capacity to launch lethal weapons, in a bid to boost the case for war, was rigorously questioned on the so-called “45-minutes” clause.
Observers reported that his defence was less than bullet-proof.
However, Ms Watts’ statement appeared to lend credence to his charge that Dr Kelly had said Mr Campbell inserted the clause.
But she told the inquiry she did not include the claim by Dr Kelly in her Newsnight report on the Iraq dossier because she thought it “glib,” uncontroversial and “speculative.”
In sum, Dr Kelly’s assertion made on May 7 was “gossipy,” having come from a single, uncorroborated, source.
Her shorthand note of the conversation read: “A mistake to put it in, Alastair Campbell seeing something in there, single source but not corroborated, sounded good.”
Moreover, she said his comments seemed out of step with the dry assertions of the scientist and she was surprised to hear Mr Campbell’s name mentioned.
On her interpretation of Dr Kelly’s opinion, she said: “He wasn’t suggesting it was necessarily false, but I think he was suggesting to me that it might not necessarily have had only one interpretation.”
The inquiry today is expected to hear a recorded discussion between Ms Watts and Dr Kelly, who met on May 30.
