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Gilligan grilled at Hutton Inquriy |
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Iraq intelligence |
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Published: 12-Aug-2003
By: Gary Gibbon
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BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan has had to justify in detail his reports about the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons which claim the September dossier was, as he put it, "sexed up". |
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For the first time The Hutton Inquiry saw the notes of his meeting with the Government scientist Dr David Kelly and compared them with what was broadcast by the BBC.
Andrew Gilligan stood by his report that it was Alastair Campbell who had transformed the dossier, insisting that it was Dr Kelly who had raised Campbell's name first.
But he also faced some serious criticism - from within the BBC.
An email from his boss - written on the same day that the BBC had issued a copious rebuttal of Alastair Campbell's attack on the corporation - was read out to the inquiry. He criticises Gilligan's flawed reporting, his loose use of language, and his lack of judgement. And Gilligan himself admitted that his first broadcast of the story was "not perfect".
And there was a further blow to the credibility of his report from another BBC colleague. The Newsnight reporter Susan Watts, told the inquiry that Dr Kelly had made similar claims about Alastair Campbell in conversation with her. But she had regarded the remark as a glib statement.
Our political correspondent Gary Gibbon reports now on a day when the BBC came under more intense scrutiny than ever before:
It was Andrew Gilligan's report in May, claiming the government flammed-up intelligence material to make the case for war with Iraq, that began the very public feud between the BBC and the government. The BBC has stood by Mr Gilligan, but today the inquiry heard at the very top of the BBC of doubts about Mr Gilligan's reliability and accuracy.
GILLIGAN'S NOTES:
Mr Gilligan insists that all he had ever done was report accurately a conversation he had with Dr David Kelly, the government expert on biological weapons who committed suicide last month.
The meeting took place at the Charing Cross hotel in Central London in May and today, for the first time, Mr Gilligan's notes of this hotly disputed conversation were made public.
While the two chatted, Mr Gilligan tapped notes into a personal organiser: Mr Gilligan says they reflect Dr Kelly's words that the government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "transformed the week before publication to make it sexier."
In court Mr GiIligan said they were his words but Dr Kelly had repeated them. He said Dr Kelly had fingered Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's head of communications as the man who had changed the dossier.
Mr Gilligan said his notes showed Dr Kelly said Alastair Campbell had called the latest draft of the dossier dull and he had asked if anything else could go in - the classic was the 45 minutes - meaning the late addition to the dossier of the warning that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes.
Andrew Gilligan told Lord Hutton's inquiry that he had checked some quotes with Dr Kelly before ending the conversation, but hadn't marked the agreed quotes on his note of the conversation as he had already put his personal organiser away.
The inquiry then heard of repeated occasions when Dr Kelly said he didn't recognise Andrew Gilligan's report as bearing any resemblance to his words. Mr Gilligan said that Dr Kelly had probably felt under pressure.
Andrew Gilligan notes:
"Dr Kelly doesn't deny the allegations categorically. I understand the position he was in. He was an employee of the MOD and he had to keep in with them."
45 MINUTE CLAIM:
The inquiry counsel questioned Mr Gilligan about the very first time he broadcast his story - at 6.07am on 29th May on Radio 4's Today programme. In that broadcast Mr GiIligan appeared to say the government knew there was no basis to the suggestion Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes flat, but put it in the dossier anyway.
The barrister James Dingemans, who questions witnesses on behalf of Lord Hutton, suggested to Mr Gilligan that he had no basis - even on the evidence of his own notes - for that accusation:
James Dingemans QC:
"Does that support the reporting that you have set out?"
Andrew Gilligan:
"Well, I think it is a reasonable conclusion to draw from what he said. But I have to say that with the benefit of hindsight, looking at it now with a fine toothcomb, I think it was not wrong, what I said, but it was not perfect either, and in hindsight I should have scripted that too."
James Dingemans QC:
"Why did you not go back and check it with him?"
Andrew Gilligan:
"As I say, what this was was a product of a live broadcast. It was, I do believe, a fair conclusion to draw from what he said to me. But I think, on reflection, I did not use exactly the right language."
UNDERMINED BY BBC:
A picture has emerged of how even as the BBC bosses defended Andrew Gilligan in public and waged a war of words with Alastair Campbell, in private they were sharing very different thoughts about the standards of the BBC in the spotlight.
Andrew Gilligan's boss - the editor of the Today programme Kevin Marsh e-mailed a BBC executive at the end of June saying of Andrew Gilligan's exclusive:
Kevin Marsh email:
"This story was a good piece of investigative journalism marred by flawed reporting. Our biggest millstone has been loose use of language and lack of judgement in some of the phraseology."
SUSAN WATTS AND DR KELLY:
There was fresh evidence to support Andrew Gilligan's assertion that Dr David Kelly had mentioned Alastair Campbell as the culprit - the man who authorised the sexing-up of the dossier, but it did Andrew Gilligan's case no favours.
The second witness of the day, Susan Watts - science editor for BBC's Newsnight - revealed that her notes of a conversation with Dr Kelly showed that he brought up Alastair Campbell's name when discussing the transformation of the dossier but she didn't think the allegation stood up.
Susan Watts' note of her chat with Dr Kelly refers to the assertion in the dossier that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons in 45 minutes: "A mistake to put in. Alastair C - seeing something in there - single source - but not corroborated - but sounded good."
Susan watts told the court of Dr Kelly:
"He appeared to be speculating in what I would characterise as a glib way. No reason to believe he had the particular access that made that a comment I would want to use in a Newsnight report."
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