Tony Blair enjoyed the second day of his holiday as he left church in Barbados yesterday. Back home Geoff Hoon was facing further controversy over his pending holiday after it was confirmed that he would be away at the time of the funeral of the Ministry of Defence weapons expert David Kelly.
The Defence Secretary and his family will be in America on Wednesday; the Government will be represented at the funeral by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister. The MoD said that Mr Hoon had discussed with Dr Kelly’s widow the timing of his holiday when he visited her last week.
Her thoughts had been taken into consideration. Mr Hoon can expect detailed questioning at the inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death. Lord Hutton has named him as one of the witnesses whom he wishes to question over how Dr Kelly’s name came into the public domain during the row over the Government’s first dossier on Iraq.