ONE of the Prime Minister’s official spokesmen has suggested that David Kelly was possibly a “Walter Mitty” figure who exaggerated his role in last year’s dossier on Iraq.
Downing Street, which initially denied responsibility for these remarks, later emphasised that its strategy for the Hutton inquiry into the scientist’s suicide would not include any attempt to taint Dr Kelly’s reputation or character.
The Times has learnt that Tom Kelly, one of Tony Blair’s two spokesmen, has admitted comparing his namesake with Walter Mitty — the fictional fantasist with delusions of grandeur — during private discussions with journalists. Disclosure of the remarks in a newspaper, which attributed them to a “senior Whitehall source”, angered opposition MPs and friends of the dead scientist.
The controversy overshadowed No 10’s efforts to stamp on reports claiming that Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, was snubbing Dr Kelly’s funeral tomorrow by going on holiday or had been barred from attending by the scientist’s family. No 10 said that Dr Kelly’s widow had been consulted on the funeral arrangements by Mr Hoon and was satisfied with them. They will include John Prescott attending, as the Government’s representative.
Mr Blair’s spokesman is believed to have made the Walter Mitty comparison in background conversations in the past fortnight not intended for public scrutiny. He is said to have speculated about why Dr Kelly had denied telling BBC reporters that Downing Street had “sexed up” last year’s dossier on Iraq with intelligence material it knew was unreliable.
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The Government has said Dr Kelly was not in a position to know how the dossier was put together. The scientist suggested the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan could have “embellished” their conversation.
Mr Blair’s spokesman is understood to have suggested that “there may be a Walter Mitty figure” behind the allegations, adding this could have been Dr Kelly or Mr Gilligan — or both.
Yesterday Mr Kelly privately admitted he had made such remarks but added they had been taken out of context. He told friends: “I think it is indecent to have further speculation in the week of Dr Kelly’s funeral. There are many outstanding questions and we should leave it to the Hutton inquiry to find the answers.”
Last night Downing Street said the remarks had been about the “questions for all concerned that the inquiry would have to answer — they were not intended as an official briefing, nor do they reflect the Government’s view”.
Earlier, Downing Street had distanced itself from the latest controversy, saying: “I don’t know where this comment has come from, but we do want to make it absolutely clear that nobody with either the Prime Minister’s or anybody else in Downing Street’s approval would say such a thing.”
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Mr Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, had said: “I do not believe these unsubstantiated remarks about Dr Kelly, attributed to a Whitehall source. I trust that no one in Government would comment on Dr Kelly at such a sensitive time.”
Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, described the remarks as “the most tasteless intervention one could imagine”.
Richard Butler, who worked with Dr Kelly in the UN’s weapons inspections in Iraq, said the scientist was “a man who was welded to the truth”.
Criticism of Mr Hoon continued, one minister saying that while it was understandable that he not attend the funeral, as it could be seen as insensitive, “to be enjoying himself on holiday doesn’t look good”.
File not secret
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An alleged “secret” document about David Kelly that the MoD put in a bag for disposal merely referred to news stories about him, a ministry official has said (Michael Evans writes). The MoD came under fire when it was claimed that it had tried to destroy a document outlining how the media could be helped to bring Dr Kelly’s name into the public domain. The policy of providing background material to help the media to identify Dr Kelly will be a key element of the Hutton inquiry.