On information available on the 21st July last year I said,

"As a result of the forthcoming independent judicial review I do not think that the BBC or Andrew Gilligan are going to come out of it too well."

The remit of the Hutton Inquiry was as follows:

"Urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly."

Nothing more, nothing less. That is what the man was asked to do.

During the course of the inquiry, the work undertaken was described a the most transparent public inquiry that has ever taken place in this country. Every shred of evidence laid before the Inquiry is available to the public. Newsnight's Susan Watts accounts of interviews with Dr. Kelly are at odds with Gilligan's reporting of the same subject matter with regard to Alister Campbell "sexing up" the document and the 45 minute claim.

On the question of the 45 minute thing, Gareth provided the text used in the document given to every single MP in Westminster. What it said was perfectly clear:

"Saddam has used chemical weapons, not only against an enemy state, but against his own people. Intelligence reports make clear that he sees the building up of his WMD capability, and the belief overseas that he would use these weapons, as vital to his strategic interests, and in particular his goal of regional domination. And the document
discloses that his military planning allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them."

It was as plain as a pikestaff back last summer that Gilligan was in the wrong, as were his bosses at the BBC for backing him, knowing full well that another member of staff (Watts) totally disagreed with what Gilligan was saying. The Government and Lord Hutton knew that the minute Susan Watts appeared before them with her own defence team.