News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		21-8-2003 Scotsman The Hutton Inquiry: Campbell and Hoon plotted to hasten naming of David Kelly By Gethin Chamberlain and Fraser Nelson ALASTAIR Campbell and Geoff Hoon proposed leaking information to a friendly newspaper which could have hastened the identification of the government weapons expert Dr David Kelly, the Hutton Inquiry was told yesterday. Downing Street was keen for Dr Kelly's name to be made public in the hope it would improve its case against the BBC in the row over claims that the dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed-up". But Mr Campbell was talked out of the plan by colleagues who warned him that it was a "bad idea". The inquiry also heard how inter-departmental rivalry within the Ministry of Defence had led to the identity of Dr Kelly being discussed at cocktail parties days before it became public knowledge. On a day in which some of the officials closest to the heart of government shed light on the period leading up to the identification of Dr Kelly, Godric Smith, one of the Prime Minister's two official spokesmen, said he had walked into Mr Campbell's office in No 10 at about 6pm on 7 July - the day Dr Kelly was questioned for the second time by MoD officials about his role in the affair - to find Mr Campbell talking on a speaker-phone to the Defence Secretary. "Alastair floated the idea that the news that an individual had come forward who could be the possible source be given that evening to one paper," Mr Smith said. Mr Hoon had replied that he would "see where things stood". But after Mr Campbell left the office, Mr Smith said that he had discussed the plan with the other prime ministerial spokesman Tom Kelly, who had agreed that it was not a good idea. "I reflected on what I had heard and thought that it was a bad idea. I said as much to Tom Kelly and asked whether he agreed and he did, so I said that the best thing was to get Alastair Campbell on the phone so we could tell him," he said. He added that Mr Campbell had agreed and the plan was dropped. The inquiry heard that Mr Campbell's desire to shed more light on the hunt for the government mole reflected the feeling within Downing Street that identification was not only inevitable, it was desirable. Sir Kevin Tebbit, the permanent secretary at the MoD, told Lord Hutton: "I was told by Sir David Omand (the prime minister's security coordinator) that the Prime Minister was following this very, very closely indeed ... The implication was that he (the Prime Minister) did want something done about this individual coming forward." He said that the government would have been at a disadvantage in its row with the BBC while Dr Kelly's name remained a secret. "This was a massive issue. I do not think one can under-estimate the importance of the charge levelled against the government as perceived by ministers, by my minister Geoff Hoon, and by No 10. It is very difficult for the government to proceed and be judged by the public on the basis of an anonymous source."
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