London, Jan 31: Journalist Andrew Gilligan, whose story that the British government had ''sexed up'' the risk from Iraqi weapons was criticised in an inquiry as unfounded, has resigned from the BBC, arguing the report was largely right. Analysts said Gilligan's resignation might put an end to a feud between the government and British Broadcasting Corporation, where two top figures have resigned since the inquiry led by Lord Hutton took the public broadcaster to task.
But some British newspapers today renewed calls for a full inquiry into the intelligence Prime Minister Tony Blair's government drew on to persuade Parliament and the public to follow the United States to war.
Gilligan maintained in his resignation statement yesterday that his report that the government knowingly exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq to justify the war was mostly right.
''If Lord Hutton had fairly considered the evidence he heard, he would have concluded that most of my story was right. The government did sex up the dossier, transforming possibilities and probabilities into certainties, removing vital caveats,'' he said.
Hutton's inquiry examined the events leading up to the death of British Iraq weapons expert David Kelly who killed himself in July after being unmasked as the source of Gilligan's report.
In an editorial, the times newspaper said today there was no ''credible reason'' for resisting calls to hold a full inquiry into the intelligence the government published on Iraq.
''Tony Blair should realise that the longer he holds out against it, the more damage he will do to the war on terror he has bravely championed,'' it said. Bureau Report