[Media-watch] David Kelly - Wikipedia

Thu Jul 31 23:49:44 BST 2003

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David Kelly
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

Dr. David Christopher Kelly (<A class=internal 
title="May 17" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_17">May 17, <A class=internal title=1944 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944">1944 - <A class=internal title="July 17" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_17">July 17, <A class=internal title=2003 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003">2003) was an employee of the <A class=internal 
title="United Kingdom" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom">British <A class=internal 
title="Ministry of Defence" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Defence">Ministry of 
Defence (MoD), and an expert in <A class=internal title="Biological warfare" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare">biological warfare. He had served as a <A 
class=new title="UN weapons inspector" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=UN_weapons_inspector&action=edit">UN weapons 
inspector in Iraq, as a 
member of UNSCOM he had 
visited the country 37 times. 
Born in Wales, he 
received a doctorate in <A class=internal title=Microbiology 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbiology">microbiology from <A class=internal 
title="Oxford University" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University">Oxford University. 
In 1984 he joined the civil service, working at <A class=new title="Porton Down" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Porton_Down&action=edit">Porton Down. He moved 
from there to work as an ad hoc advisor to the MoD and the Foreign 
Office. 
Kelly came to prominence in July 2003, in connection with claims that a 
government spin 
doctor had "sexed up" a government dossier on illegal weapons in Iraq 
allegedly in order to increase public support for the <A class=internal 
title="2003 invasion of Iraq" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq">2003 invasion 
of Iraq. (The dossier which Kelly was alleged to have commented upon is 
known as the <A class=internal title="September Dossier" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Dossier">September Dossier, and is not the same 
as the <A class=internal title="Dodgy Dossier" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgy_Dossier">Dodgy Dossier, which he was not alleged to 
have been involved with.) 
Kelly was found dead at an area of woodlands near his home on July 18 2003. 
His wrist had been cut and a packet of painkillers was found beside him. The 
police stated that no-one else was suspected of involvement and that the 
evidence indicated that Kelly had committed suicide. 
David Kelly had become a member of the <A class=internal title="Baha'i Faith" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baha%27i_Faith">Baha'i Faith about four years prior to his 
death. Baha'i teachings condemn suicide and discourage a close involvement with 
party politics. Kelly's wife and children are members of the <A class=internal 
title="Church of England" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England">Church of England. 

Timeline 
September 24, 2002 - The British Government releases a 
dossier (the "September Dossier") in which it claims that Iraq could deploy <A 
class=internal title="Weapons of mass destruction" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction">weapons of mass destruction within 
45 minutes of the order being given. 
February 3, 2003 - The British government release a dossier 
entitled Iraq - its infrastructure of concealment, deception and 
intimidation . The dossier is later found to have included whole sections 
from unattributed sources including the postgraduate thesis of a former 
Californian student Ibrahim al-Marashi. The dossier is subsequently dubbed the 
"Dodgy Dossier". 
May 22 - <A class=new title="Andrew Gilligan" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Andrew_Gilligan&action=edit">Andrew Gilligan, 
a BBC journalist, and David 
Kelly meet for lunch in the Victorian Charing Cross Hotel, between Strand and 
the Thames Embankment in London. 
May 29 - Andrew Gilligan claims that a senior MoD official 
told him that the dossier in September was "sexed up" by the government with the 
insertion of the 45-minute claim. Subsequently, a row ensues over just who the 
source was. 
June 1 - The <A class=new title="Mail on Sunday" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Mail_on_Sunday&action=edit">Mail on Sunday 
publish an article by Andrew Gilligan in which he elaborates on his report and 
specifically names the Downing Street press secretary <A class=internal 
title="Alastair Campbell" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Campbell">Alastair Campbell 
as the person responsible for the insertion of the 45-minute claim into the 
September Dossier. 

June 2 - <A class=internal title="BBC TWO" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_TWO">BBC TWO's flagship <A class=new title=Newsnight 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Newsnight&action=edit">Newsnight programme 
broadcasts a report by <A class=new title="Susan Watts" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Susan_Watts&action=edit">Susan Watts also 
quoting an unnamed senior official stating that the government added the 
45-minute claim. It is subsequently revealed that the source was Kelly. In the 
programme, an actor reads the comments supposedly made. They were 

  It was a statement that was made and it just got out of all 
  proportion. They were desperate for information, they were pushing hard for 
  information which could be released. That was one that popped up and it was 
  seized on and it's unfortunate that it was. 

  That's why there is the argument between the intelligence services and 
  the cabinet office - because they picked up on it and once they've picked up 
  on it, you can't pull it back from them.1 
July 8 - David Kelly admits to his seniors at the MoD that 
he had met Gilligan to discuss the dossier, but denies mentioning any 
involvement by Campbell. Later that day the government issue a statement saying 
that a Ministry of Defence official has come forward and admitted meeting Andrew 
Gilligan on May 22. 
July 9 - In a private letter to the BBC, Defence Secretary 
Geoff Hoon 
names Kelly as the official who had spoken to Gilligan. The name is subsequently 
revealed by the MoD's press office to <A class=internal title="The Guardian" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian">The Guardian, the <A class=internal 
title="Financial Times" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Times">Financial Times 
and The 
Times. 
July 15 - Kelly appears before the <A class=internal 
title="British House of Commons" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_House_of_Commons">House of 
Commons Foreign Affairs <A class=new title="Select Committee" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Select_Committee&action=edit">Select 
Committee. He tells them he was not the source of the "sexed up" claim. 
Committee members say they do not believe he was the source of the claim. 
July 17 - Andrew Gilligan appears before the Foreign Affairs 
<A class=new title="Select Committee" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Select_Committee&action=edit">Select Committee 
and is accused by the committee's chairman <A class=internal 
title="Donald Anderson" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Anderson">Donald Anderson of 
"changing his story" and being an "unsatisfactory witness". Meanwhile Kelly's 
family contact police after he fails to return from a walk. Before he had left 
his house, Kelly had sent an <A class=internal title=E-mail 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail">e-mail to a journalist on the <A class=internal 
title="New York Times" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times">New York Times, warning 
of "many dark actors playing games". 
July 18 - Kelly's body is found a few miles from his home. 
The government announces an independent judicial enquiry into the events leading 
up to the death, to be chaired by Lord Hutton. 
July 19 - Police formally confirm the identity of the body, 
and indicate that he died as a result of a wound to the left wrist, in an 
apparent suicide. According to the police, no evidence was found to suggest the 
participation of any other person in the death. An opened packet of co-proxamol, 
a prescription painkiller drug, was found beside the body. 
July 20 - Richard Sambrook, director of news at the BBC, 
reveals that Dr. David Kelly was indeed the source for Gilligan's report of the 
claim that Downing Street had "sexed up" the September Dossier. 
July 22 - The BBC announces that the tape of Susan Watt's 
interview will be supplied to the inquiry into Kelly's death. 

Political fallout 
In the aftermath of Kelly's death, former minister <A class=internal 
title="Glenda Jackson" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenda_Jackson">Glenda Jackson called for 
the resignation of the <A class=internal title="British Prime Minister" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Prime_Minister">British Prime Minister, <A 
class=internal title="Tony Blair" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair">Tony Blair. She 
also suggested on <A class=internal title="Channel 4" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4">Channel 4 News that the Defence Secretary, Geoff 
Hoon, should "consider his position". <A class=new title="Mail on Sunday" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Mail_on_Sunday&action=edit">Mail on Sunday 
reporter, <A class=new title="Jonathan Oliver" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Jonathan_Oliver&action=edit">Jonathan Oliver, 
asked Blair in a press conference in <A class=internal title=Tokyo 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo">Tokyo whether he had the "blood [of Kelly] on his hands" 
to which Blair did not comment. <A class=internal title="Iain Duncan Smith" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Duncan_Smith">Iain Duncan Smith and <A class=internal 
title="Charles Kennedy" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kennedy">Charles Kennedy, 
leaders of Britain's main opposition parties, called for Parliament to be 
recalled to debate the issue. 
After the BBC's confirmation that Kelly was the source, it was forced to 
defend its reporting of what he had said, since Kelly himself had claimed that 
he could not have been the main source since he had not said what Gilligan had 
reported. Andrew Gilligan's own report is widely descibed as 'sexed up' by other 
sections of the media. The BBC continues to claim that his reporting has been 
accurate. It also revealed that Kelly's briefing to a Newsnight journalist had 
been taped and that it was considering making that tape available to Lord 
Hutton. 
Peter 
Mandelson, a former Blair minister and spin doctor, described Andrew 
Gilligan as a "loose cannon", the continued support of the [BBC] governors as a 
"crass error" and said that it needs to review its conduct before it suffered 
"further erosion of [its] credibility". 
During a discussion of the Kelly death on Newsnight, one panellist 
suggested that Kelly's suicide was because, under pressure during his 
interrogation before the parliamentary committee, Kelly had in effect lied about 
his comments to Gilligan, having also lied to the Ministry of Defence over his 
interview. The panellist suggested that Kelly feared his "dishonest" comments 
before parliament could come back to haunt him and have repercussions for his 
pension rights. 
<A class=new title="Trevor Kavanagh" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Trevor_Kavanagh&action=edit">Trevor Kavanagh, 
political editor of the pro-Blair The Sun tabloid, which had a long 
history of criticism of the BBC (a possible reason for this being that the BBC - 
as a television operator - is in competition with <A class=internal 
title="Sky Television" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Television">Sky Television, who along 
with The Sun is owned by <A class=internal title="News Corporation" 
href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation">News Corporation), talked of "the death of the 
BBC's priceless reputation for integrity". 
Government spin doctors suggested that Kelly was "outside the loop" and "did 
not have access to intelligence." This however was contradicted by other sources 
who suggested that not merely was Kelly in the loop, he was so influential that 
MI6 regularly sought out his 
opinion on Iraq and other issues. 

Footnote
1 BBC TWO Newsnight report, reported in <A class=internal 
title="The Irish Times" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irish_Times">The Irish Times, <A 
class=internal title="July 24" href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_24">24 July <A 
class=internal title=2003 href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003">2003. 

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