The chairman of the BBC said today it was right to stand by a contentious report about Iraqi weapons and to assert its independence from the government.
But Gavyn Davies told the Hutton Inquiry that the BBC had not escalated the row. "We were deliberately trying to cool the atmosphere" in the weeks after a BBC report quoted a source as claiming the government had exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, Mr Davies said.
But he said BBC bosses felt "we must not do a behind-the-stairs deal with Number 10 Downing Street which the public will see as a means of taking off the public agenda a matter of legitimate public interest."
Mr Davies was testifying at the judicial inquiry into the death of Government weapons expert Dr David Kelly, the scientist identified as the BBC's source of the .
The British government vehemently denies manipulating intelligence in a dossier on Iraq published a year ago.
Mr Davies said the BBC was "faced with such an unprecedented attack on our integrity" from the government. "I think it was perfectly reasonable for me to take the view that the public would look to the governors to stand up for the independence of the BBC," he said.
Cross-examined by a lawyer for the government, Davies said the BBC's board had not automatically backed the report by journalist Andrew Gilligan. He said the governors were satisfied the report was based on a credible and reliable source, though they were not told who the source was.
He said the BBC was right to state its faith in the story even though Mr Gilligan could not produce notes for all of the claims he attributed to Kelly.
"Most journalists broadcast material based to a large extent on memory as well as notes and most journalists do not make verbatim ... notes of their discussions," Mr Davies said.
Also today, Dr Kelly's Ministry of Defense supervisor testified that he had informed the scientist that the department had made his name public in a brief call from his mobile phone.
Critics accuse the government of contributing to the pressure that may have led to Kelly's suicide by confirming his identity to journalists who guessed it, thus thrusting him into the public spotlight.
Bryan Wells said the ministry press office had called him while he was riding a train home from work on July 9 and asked him to notify DrKelly that they had confirmed his name to reporters.
Mr Wells did so just after 7 p.m. in a conversation that phone records show lasted 46 seconds and which he said was disrupted by a bad connection and eventually cut off. Wells and Kelly spoke again a few minutes later, again for less than a minute.
"He expressed no concern at all" over his name becoming public, "more as if this was going to be inevitable," Mr Wells testified.