The chairman of the committee that questioned British weapons expert Dr David Kelly three days before his death has defended himself against allegations that he was influenced by Downing Street.
The Hutton Inquiry heard yesterday that Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairman Mr Donald Anderson agreed to question Dr Kelly on terms set down by Defence Secretary Mr Geoff Hoon.
But he claimed a lack of time and the expectations of the committee forced him to go ahead with the questioning on the Government's terms. He said: "I had my back against the wall. The committee wanted to meet Dr Kelly and on a pretty narrow point."
The questioning of Dr Kelly, in particular probing to find the source of BBC defence correspondent Mr Andrew Gilligan's report on the alleged "sexing up" of a dossier on Iraq, came three days before Parliament went into recess.
"If I had rejected Mr Hoon's terms, the meeting with Dr Kelly would not have gone ahead," Mr Anderson added. "If I had sought to negotiate - which would have been my normal instinct - we would have run out of time effectively. We would have gone into the buffers."
Mr Anderson also said it was "impossible" for him to come to any firm view on people seeking to influence the committee and criticised Mr Gilligan for sending e-mails to other members.
He said: "Mr Gilligan was wrong to seek to influence the committee in the way he did."