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Campbell`s diary extracts show he wanted to identify Kelly
London, Sept 23: A British Broadcasting Corp. report that said the British government had `sexed up` the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was so damaging that Prime Minister Tony Blair`s former communications chief wanted to publicly identify the weapons inspector suspected of being its source, diary extracts showed.
London, Sept 23: A British Broadcasting Corp. report that said the British government had "sexed up" the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was so damaging that Prime
Minister Tony Blair's former communications chief wanted to publicly identify the weapons inspector suspected of being its source, diary extracts showed.
Alastair Campbell, who recently stepped down as
Blair's top spokesman, told an inquiry that had the BBC report
been true, the premier would have been forced to resign.
Extracts from Campbell's diary showed yesterday that he and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon both believed that arms expert David Kelly could play an important role in disproving the report by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, if the scientist's name was made public.
"GH, (Geoff Hoon), like me, wanted to get it out that the source had broken cover to claim that AG (Andrew Gilligan) misrepresented him," said the July 6 diary extract. "GH and I both wanted to get the source up, but TB (Tony Blair) was nervous about it."
"We kept pressing on as best we could at the briefings, but the biggest thing needed was the source out," said a July 9 extract.
Kelly, a former U.N. weapons inspector, apparently killed himself on July 18, nine days after the government confirmed he was the likely source of the BBC report, which alleged the government had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Bureau Report
Extracts from Campbell's diary showed yesterday that he and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon both believed that arms expert David Kelly could play an important role in disproving the report by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, if the scientist's name was made public.
"GH, (Geoff Hoon), like me, wanted to get it out that the source had broken cover to claim that AG (Andrew Gilligan) misrepresented him," said the July 6 diary extract. "GH and I both wanted to get the source up, but TB (Tony Blair) was nervous about it."
"We kept pressing on as best we could at the briefings, but the biggest thing needed was the source out," said a July 9 extract.
Kelly, a former U.N. weapons inspector, apparently killed himself on July 18, nine days after the government confirmed he was the likely source of the BBC report, which alleged the government had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Bureau Report