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Blair may be quizzed as Kelly crisis deepens
This is so "inside baseball", but Iâm a Yank. EFL.Geoff Hoon, Britainâs defence minister, personally authorised the media strategy that led to the unmasking of the bioweapons expert whose suicide has set off  Tony Blairâs most serious political crisis since coming to power, government sources said on Monday night. The Ministry of Defence strategy will be the prime focus of the judicial inquiry that the UK prime minister has called into the fate of David Kelly. Lord Hutton, the judge heading the inquiry, will interview government ministers, likely to include Mr Blair and Mr Hoon, to trace the chain of events that led to the death of Mr Kelly, named by the BBC as the main source of a news report alleging the government exaggerated intelligence to strengthen the case for war in Iraq. Mr Kelly, a former United Nations weapons inspector who worked for the Ministry of Defence, has been branded the scapegoat in a dispute that threatens to destabilise the government and the BBC. The media strategy was drawn up, sources say, after Mr Hoon received a rebuff to his formal request to the broadcaster that it confirm in private that Mr Kelly was the source. Mr Hoonâs direct involvement in the handling of Mr Kelly means that he could be forced to resign if an independent inquiry by Lord Hutton, who sits on Britainâs highest court of appeal, criticises Mr Kellyâs treatment. Wonder if Lord Hutton will even mention what the BBC did. Officials in Mr Blairâs office insisted on Monday that the MoD was the lead department in handling Mr Kellyâs case. But the admission from the prime ministerâs office that it was consulted by the MoD over the weapons scientist could spread the fallout to Mr Blair himself. Mr Blair again rejected calls for the inquiry to look at the use of intelligence in the build-up to war in Iraq. "I think it is important that he does what we have asked him to do," the prime minister said. But Lord Hutton made clear that he was in sole charge of the inquiry, saying he would act independently of the government and conduct most of the hearings in public. "I make it clear that it will be for me to decide as I think right, within my terms of reference, the matters that will be the subject of my investigation," Lord Hutton said. Mr Blairâs call at the weekend for a period of reflection and restraint went largely unheeded as politicians and commentators sought to apportion blame for a death that has shaken the political and media establishment in the UK. Seems like the BBC ought to be whacked for this, not Mr. Blair.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-07-22 |
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