Hoon admits authorising Kelly statement
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly that he had seen the MoD press statement on July 8th announcing that an official had come forward to admit meeting BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan.
He also confirmed that he had approved the contents of the statement and had authorised it to be issued.
Mr Hoon said he had been concerned that by then this official had come forward with “something relevant to say on the subject of two parliamentary committees”. He explained that he had been keen to ensure that the Government could not be accused of covering up the fact that an official had come forward and still believed he had made the right decision.
“We had to deal with it. We did not have the option of doing nothing. We had to resolve this matter,” he said.
Mr Hoon insisted that the Government and the Ministry of Defence had done nothing wrong in its handling of the Iraqi weapons expert.
The minister insisted that he had always thought Dr Kelly’s name would become public and added that he had asked his officials to report to him on the scientist’s welfare.
He was reappearing before the inquiry in its final week, before senior Judge Lord Hutton retires to consider his final report.
Under tense cross-examination from Jeremy Gompertz QC, lawyer for the Kelly family, Mr Hoon repeatedly denied leaking Dr Kelly’s name, but admitted that he was aware of the Ministry of Defence’s decision to authorise press officers to confirm Dr Kelly’s name if it was put to them by journalists.
He staunchly defended the decision to confirm the Ministry of Defence scientist’s name and denied that any decisions by the Ministry of Defence had been “outside the reasonable range of judgment, so far out as to be wrong.”
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after his name was made public as the source for a story by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, in which he alleged that the Government “sexed up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to provide a stronger case for war.
Mr Gompertz referred Mr Hoon to his letter to BBC chairman Mr Davies, in which he named Dr Kelly as the possible source for Mr Gilligan’s story. The lawyer said: “Was that protecting Dr Kelly’s anonymity?”
Mr Hoon replied: “I think writing a letter in confidence to the chairman of the BBC, having taken some trouble to ensure that it was only seen by Mr Davies, was protecting his anonymity, yes.”
Mr Gompertz suggested that there had been a “deliberate Government strategy to leak Dr Kelly’s name into the public arena”, to which Mr Hoon replied: “You have put that point to a number of witnesses. They have all denied it and I deny it.”
Mr Gompertz said: “His name was leaked, was it not?”
Mr Hoon said: “Not by me.”
Former Downing Street press chief Alastair Campbell is also due before the inquiry today. He is expected to face further questioning about his role in the dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction published last September.
Mr Campbell has already denied all allegations of “sexing up” the dossier.
