Free Republic

BBC reporters reveal Kelly's unease at No. 10 spinBy FT StaffPublished: August 13 2003 12:44 | Last Updated: August 13 2003 14:40 Two BBC reporters have told the judicial inquiry into the death of David Kelly of the unease expressed by the weapons scientist over the level of  Downing Street "spin" involved in compiling a dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destructionA taped telephone conversation submitted as evidence by Susan Watts, science editor of the BBC programme Newsnight , appears to implicate No. 10's press office in "sexing up" the government's case for war.Gavin Hewitt, a special correspondent for the BBC Ten O'Clock News, also said...

Gilligan damned by evidence of colleaguesBy Bob Sherwood, Legal CorrespondentPublished: August 12 2003 20:55 | Last Updated: August 12 2003 20:55 Andrew Gilligan has long been under no illusion that he has critics. But when he appeared before Lord Hutton on Tuesday could not have expected to be damned, not by a practitioner of the Downing Street black arts, but by his BBC colleagues.Initially the journalist appeared to be surviving the scrutiny. He mounted a calm defence of his reporting on the second day of the judicial inquiry into why David Kelly, the weapons expert, apparently committed suicide after being...

BBC reporter refused to name Kelly (Filed: 13/08/2003) A BBC journalist has told the inquiry into David Kelly's death how she was pressurised by her managers to name the weapons expert as the source of her reports on No 10's Iraq dossier. Susan Watts: evidence Susan Watts, the science editor of BBC2's Newsnight, said that her bosses had wanted her to back up a report by Andrew Gilligan on Radio 4's Today programme that Downing Street had "sexed up" the dossier. But Miss Watts - who ran two stories on Newsnight based on conversations with Dr Kelly - said she...