Britain: Until recently, Dr David Kelly was an anonymous scientist working behind the scenes at the Ministry of Defence. Suddenly he found himself thrust unwillingly into the media spotlight at the centre of the bitter row between the BBC and Tony Blair's office, 10 Downing Street.
The British government was furious over a BBC story - based on information from an unnamed source - that No 10 communications chief Alastair Campbell "sexed up" a crucial intelligence dossier on Iraq.
Dr Kelly was named by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a contact who, it believed, briefed BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan about the Iraqi weapons programme.
Dr Kelly was a UN weapons inspector who later became an adviser to British ministers on weapons of mass destruction. A top microbiologist, he visited Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime dozens of times and was currently a government adviser in the Proliferation and Arms Control Secretariat.
In September last year he gave evidence to a Commons committee probing the war on terrorism.
When he spoke to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee this week, it was in very different circumstances, and under a much brighter media spotlight. He admitted he had met BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan a week before Gilligan broadcast his story on Radio 4's Today programme.
During his 20-minute grilling, Dr Kelly was barely audible to the MPs, journalists and government officials packed into the muggy wood-panelled room in a Westminster corridor.
As temperatures soared outside on one of the hottest days of the year, a committee clerk switched off the noisy cooling fans so that the softly spoken government adviser could be heard. But despite this, Dr Kelly was several times asked to raise his voice and repeat his responses.
The 59-year-old had been summoned before the committee at 3 p.m. on Tuesday after the MoD confirmed he was the possible source for the allegation that Alastair Campbell had "sexed up" the dossier on Iraq's weapons.
As Dr Kelly began outlining his role as a weapons expert, journalists behind him leant forward, craning their necks as they took down every word.
Dr Kelly said he met Gilligan to discuss Iraq's weapons capability a week before the story at the centre of the row was broadcast on May 29th. But he said Gilligan's account of his conversation with his source was so different from their conversation that he did not believe that he could be the source.
A bizarre moment came when he was asked by one member whether they had discussed the state of the railways at the start of their conversation. Dr Kelly, looking bemused, murmured "No." He said that the "C-word" - a reference to Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell - had arisen during their meeting, but it had been Gilligan who first mentioned it.
Even when under intense questioning by Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay about other journalists to whom he had spoken, Dr Kelly's voice was barely louder than a whisper. As he tried to sidestep the question, Mr MacKinlay angrily demanded he answer, telling him he was before the "high court of parliament".
He said: "I believe I am not the main source. From the conversation I had I don't see how he could make the authoritative statements he was making from the comments that I made." His disclosure prompted an angry reaction from MPs who claimed he had been set up by the MoD.
Tory MP Sir John Stanley said Dr Kelly had acted in a "proper and honourable manner" in coming forward to suggest he may have been Gilligan's source but he had been "thrown to the wolves" by the MoD.
"You were being exploited to rubbish Mr Gilligan and his source," he told Dr Kelly.
Mr MacKinlay said he believed Dr Kelly was "chaff", thrown up by the MoD to divert attention. "Have you ever felt like the fall guy? You have been set up, haven't you?" he asked him.
Dr Kelly replied: "I accept the process." - (PA)