Hutton Report

   A judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointedbytheBritishGovernmenttoinvestigatethedeath of a Government weapons expert, Dr David Kelly. Its terms of reference were to ‘urgently . . . conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly’. The inquiry opened in August 2003 and reported on 28 January2004.Theinquiryheardevidencefrom74witnesses over 22 days, including Tony Blair. In his report, Hutton began by saying that he was ‘satisfied that Dr Kelly took his own life’. He then concluded that the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) allegations (made originally by journalist Andrew Gilligan) that the Government had knowingly ‘sexed up’ a report into Iraq’sweapons of mass destruction – the so-called ‘September Dossier’ – were unfounded. The inquiry’sfindingspromptedtheimmediateresignationofthe BBC’s Chairman and Director General and the journalist at the centre of the allegations. Lord Hutton retired as a law lord following the report’s publication. The Government waslargely cleared of any wrongdoing,muchto the surprise of many observers. Having previously been praised for his handling of the witnesses, the chairman found himself criticised for presiding over a whitewash.

   See also: Campbell, Alastair