Andrew Gilligan, the reporter at the centre of the row over the Government's Iraq weapons dossier, misled senior BBC managers over his contacts with weaponsexpert David Kelly, the inquiry into the scientist's death was told today.
BBC director of news Mr Richard Sambrook said the journalist had insisted throughout the corporation's row with the Government that he stood by his reporting of Dr Kelly's claims.
However under cross-examination at the Hutton Inquiry, both Mr Gilligan and Mr Sambrook admitted that key elements of Mr Gilligan's reporting on the Radio 4 Todayprogramme had been "incorrect".
|
Mr Sambrook said it was almost a month after Mr Gilligan's original broadcast on May 29th before he learned the reporter's source was not actually a member of the intelligence services.
Mr Gilligan also publicly apologised for informing MPs that Dr Kelly was the source of reports by another BBC journalist about the Iraq dossier at a time when the corporation was still refusing to say whether he was their "mole".
Mr Gilligan appeared before the inquiry for the second time today and acknowledged he made a "slip of the tongue" during a crucial live broadcast on the BBC radio programme in May.
Mr Gilligan acknowledged he should not have said Downing Street ordered the claim that some Iraqi weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes be included in the dossier against the wishes of the intelligence services.
He also conceded that he had made an "error" in saying during a live "two-way" with programme presenter John Humphrys that the 45-minute claim was included even though the Government knew it was probably wrong.
"It was not intentional. It was a kind of slip of the tongue that does happen quite often during live broadcasts. It is an occupational hazard which is why it would have been better to have scripted them," Mr Gilligan said.
"I regret that on these two occasions I didn't report entirely carefully and accurately what he [Dr Kelly] said. My error was to ascribe that statement to him when it was actually a conclusion of mine."
However Mr Sambrook told the inquiry that on June 26, Mr Gilligan had helped draft a letter to Downing Street insisting he had "accurately" reported his source as saying that the Government "probably knew the 45-minute figure waswrong" and that the claim was "questionable".
Dr Kelly's death, the inquiry and the failure to find any banned weapons in Iraq have plunged British Prime Minister Tony Blair into the worst political crisis of his six-year tenure as his public trust ratings have plummeted.
Dr Kelly killed himself two months ago, shortly after being named by the government as the source for Mr Gilligan's story, which sparked the row between the government and the BBC.
PA