Hutton defuses row over late submission

LORD HUTTON last night cleared the British Government of trying to influence his inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly by submitting a late evidence statement.

After 24 hours of speculation, Lord Hutton quashed the suggestion by confirming the BBC, its reporter Andrew Gilligan, and Dr Kelly's family had all made similar submissions.

Lord Hutton said they had been publicly invited to do so by the inquiry's own counsel James Dingemans QC, and there was nothing "surprising or unexpected or of special significance in the making of these written submissions", and these submissions may be published after his own report was in the public domain. Yesterday's statement taking the pressure off No 10 reflected the heightened political tension ahead of the report's publication. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Tory leader Michael Howard were involved in fierce Commons clashes over Mr Blair's role in the naming of Dr Kelly as the source behind the BBC's claim that the Government 'sexed up' its Iraq weapons dossier. Mr Blair insisted he stood by the "totality" of what he told reporters on board a plane on July 22 four days after Dr Kelly's body was discovered when he said he had "emphatically not" authorised the leaking or naming of the weapons expert.