BBC has tape of Dr Kelly attacking No 10
The BBC has confirmed it has a tape recording of Dr David Kelly expressing severe reservations over No 10’s part in the “sexed up” dossier scandal.
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide on Thursday. Downing Street insists he was the “mole” in the media named “dodgy dossier” scandal and forced the Iraq weapons expert to appear before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
There he received a severe grilling over alleged comments to Andrew Gilligan, the BBC reporter who broke the allegations that the PM’s communications director Alastair Campbell had added several controversial clauses to an intelligence report on Iraq’s capacity to launch lethal weapons.
The most significant was the clause suggesting Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction “within 45 minutes.”
Dr Kelly said he did not believe he was the main source of Mr Gilligan’s story. A comment seemingly at odds with a conversation later with former BBC journalist Tom Mangold where he said he was.
The corporation said it is planning to use the tape as evidence in the Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry into Mr Kelly’s untimely death.
The tape is a recording of a conversation with the science editor of Newsnight, Susan Watts and Dr Kelly.
The tape was broadcast on June 2 using an actor’s voice.
There the source said: “It was a statement that was made and it just got out of all proportion, They were desperate for information, they were pushing hard for information which could be released. That was one that popped up and it was seized on and it’s unfortunate that it was.
“That’s why there is the argument between the intelligence services and the Cabinet Office/No 10 – because they picked up on it and once they’ve picked up on it, you can’t pull it back from them.”
The BBC will say that Mr Gilligan and Mrs Watts checked their “sources” thoroughly.
