Individual Post Archive
« Kay Says Evidence Shows Iraq Disarmed |
Main
| Judge fails to turn acerbic eye on Downing Street »
GREG DYKE'S future as BBC Director-General was hanging in the balance last night after his Chairman of Governors resigned in the wake of Lord Hutton's devastating verdict on the corporation.
Gavyn Davies became the first ever BBC Chairman to be forced to quit, after Lord Huttons report on David Kelly's suicide plunged the corporation into the worst crisis of its 82-year history.
Governors, who meet today amid an atmosphere of deep shock at Broadcasting House, will consider whether Mr Dyke should also pay the ultimate price, despite his bullish defence of BBC journalism yesterday. Further departures are expected after Lord Hutton labelled BBC management "defective" and its key allegations against the Government "unfounded".
Question marks remain over Richard Sambrook, the head of news, and Andrew Gilligan, the reporter whose broadcasts began the momentous showdown between the BBC and the Government.
Tony Blair was cleared by the judge of any "dishonourable, duplicitous or underhand" strategy to leak Dr Kelly's name to the media while Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary widely touted as a fall guy, emerged almost unscathed.
There was only mild criticism for Ministry of Defence civil servants, but some harsh words for Dr Kelly himself, and the conclusion that he was "not an easy man to help".
Lord Hutton's 720-page report said that BBC managers failed to check Mr Gilligan's notes until it was too late, and failed to act when they found that key claims were missing. Furthermore, BBC governors failed to investigate the notes and failed to address the detail of government complaints.
Amid a growing feeling at the BBC that the report was "rough justice", Mr Davies launched his own counter-attack on Lord Hutton. He questioned whether he took enough notice of Dr Kelly's taped conversation with Susan Watts, the Newsnight reporter, in which he cast doubt on the claim that Iraq could launch its weapons in 45 minutes.
Mr Davies added: "Are his conclusions on restricting the use of unverifiable sources in British journalism based on sound law and, if applied, would they constitute a threat to the freedom of the press in this country?"
Looking ahead nervously to the review of the BBC's Royal Charter in 2006, he also said that the governors and management of the BBC were put there to serve the public and no one else. Mr Davies said: "If these twin pillars are undermined, the whole edifice could come tumbling down."
There were calls last night from the Conservatives for more of the BBC's governance to be brought under Ofcom, the new regulator for the communications industry.
Mr Dyke apologised yesterday for the allegations that the BBC got wrong, but stood by the bulk of its claims. "Provided his allegations were reported accurately, the public in a modern democracy had a right to be made aware of them. The greater part of the BBC's coverage of the dossier fulfilled this purpose," he said.
But Mr Dyke's position was undermined as Lord Hutton made clear he believed that the editorial systems he was responsible for as editor-in-chief were "defective".
In the BBC's final submission to the inquiry, released yesterday, the BBC conceded: "The Director-General might in theory be culpably responsible if the BBC's systems (rather than their implementation in this particular case) were themselves deficient," it stated.
Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has made clear that the conclusions of the Hutton inquiry will be taken into account in the review of the corporation's charter.
Gerald Kaufman, the Labour chairman of the Commons culture committee, yesterday called for Mr Dyke, as well as Mr Sambrook and John Humphrys, to resign.
Speaking in the Commons, he asked: "How can the BBC continue as a public service broadcasting organisation funded by a tax unless these people are cleared out and a new regime is appointed?"
Lord Hutton decided not to pass judgment on whether British intelligence justified the Iraq war nor to assess whether the intelligence itself was robust. He made no comment about the style of Alastair Campbell's attack on the BBC nor Downing Street's relaxed approach to minute-taking.
These decisions led to the first signs of a backlash. Austin Mitchell, MP, chair of the National Union of Journalists group of MPs, accused Lord Hutton of using "buckets of whitewash" in a "one-sided" report. He added: "His report shows all the characteristics of judicial deference to the Establishment." Rod Liddle, the former Editor of Today who hired Mr Gilligan, told Sky News: "It is a golden rule that inquiries particularly inquiries which are led by eminent lawyers tend to clear and exonerate governments."
January 28, 2004 at 08:09 PM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home