Ministers avoid questions on Kelly

BRITISH Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday side-stepped a barrage of questions over the death of Government scientist Dr David Kelly.

Despite repeated calls, both men refused to discuss the matter at a Foreign Office press briefing with members of the new Iraqi administration.

They appeared at the briefing soon after it emerged that publication of evidence given in secret by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on the row which thrust Dr Kelly into the limelight has been postponed at the reporter’s request.

The BBC denied it was trying to suppress the evidence, saying it would be more appropriate for the transcript to come before Lord Hutton’s inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death.

It was also announced today that Lord Hutton’s inquiry will not be televised, a decision which relieves the Prime Minister of the prospect of senior Government figures being grilled on prime-time television.

An ashen-faced Mr Hoon, who met Dr Kelly’s widow at her Oxfordshire home yesterday, told reporters: “I think it is very important to show respect to our guests and ask questions about their visit here rather than to deal with an inquiry to which I will give evidence in due course.”

Yesterday chairman Donald Anderson said: “On 17 July, the committee stated to Mr Gilligan that it would wish to publish the full transcript of evidence, and he agreed that should be done. After the meeting, I said that the transcript would be made available as soon as the witness, in accordance with normal practice, had been given an opportunity to correct any errors of transcription.”

Dr Kelly, a Ministry of Defence weapons expert, slashed his wrist after being named as the prime source for BBC reports that the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was ‘sexed up’ by the Government to justify the war with Iraq.

Mr Blair is expected to face intense questioning over the affair at his monthly televised press conference on Wednesday.