Dossier row a smokescreen, says Short

THE continuing row between Downing Street and the BBC over intelligence on Iraq is a “smokescreen” covering up the real reasons for going to war, former Cabinet minister Clare Short said yesterday.

The death of Dr David Kelly, the confirmed prime source for reports that a dossier on intelligence in Iraq was “sexed up”, was a tragedy, she said. But she insisted that the assault on the BBC was a “complete distraction” from the bigger picture.

Dr Kelly, a weapons expert at the Ministry of Defence, killed himself three days after telling MPs he did not believe he was the main source for the claim that the dossier was “sexed up”.

Former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, a key ally of British Prime Minister Tony Blair attacked the BBC for making a “crass error” in backing the story before the journalist Andrew Gilligan, defence correspondent for the Radio 4 Today programme, appeared before a committee of MPs.

The corporation had done so “for the sake of the wider battle” that it was fighting with the Government, he said.

But Ms Short said Mr Mandelson’s attack was “disgraceful”. She told the Today programme: “Dr Kelly has recently died and then we’re getting someone like Peter Mandelson, who can only be briefed by No 10.... widening the assault on the BBC.

“It is all part of a distraction from the real issue, which is how did we get to war in Iraq?

“Of course it’s a complete tragedy that Dr Kelly was put under such pressure that he felt the need to take his life, and that question needs to be looked into, but that is a separate question, that is a question of potentially the abuse of power, the role of the Downing Street machine and bringing a public servant to this position.”