Blair in spotlight over expert's death

The knives are out, the fingers are pointing, or as the Daily Mail describes it, Tony Blair and his government are now facing their "Moment of Truth".

Instead of its normal single column editorial the paper devotes three to the apparent death of Iraq weapons expert and MoD advisor Dr David Kelly, and it pulls no punches at what it sees as a politically-inspired vendetta.

The victim was pitchforked into the very centre of a huge public row - and, the paper says, the motive was transparent: to put pressure on the BBC to name its source for a report alleging the government had embellished an intelligence dossier to strengthen the case for war against Iraq.

What the Mail wants is the prime minister to cut short his round-the-world trip, Parliament recalled and the resignations of the government's director of communications Alastair Campbell and the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.

The government would expect such calls from a right-wing paper, but they get short shrift from the Guardian, too.

"Vindictive" and "evasive" are just two of the adjectives employed to describe the government.

BBC criticised

None of the players, it says, in this dismal charade emerge with much credit.

The paper also accuses the BBC of being less than open about any misgivings it may have had about the quality of its original journalism - a theme taken up by its columnist Hugo Young.

He describes its performance on who was the source of the story as "shifty."

Of Tony Blair, Mr Young writes that he decided his own reputation had to be defended whatever the cost - what started as a sideshow has now taken over national life.

And he concludes: "Such is the dynamic that can be unleashed by a leader who believes his own reputation to be the core value his country must defend."

The Times runs a profile of Dr Kelly, who it describes as the scourge of Saddam Hussein who ended up being treated with contempt.

His role in disarming the Iraqis' biological weapons arsenal is impossible to exaggerate, says the paper.

Pictures of the woodland where Dr Kelly was found feature in all the papers.

The Sun describes him as an honourable and respected civil servant who suddenly found himself in the glare of the public spotlight.

No one is to blame for his apparent suicide, says the Sun, but some of those involved must start asking searching questions about their conduct in the affair.

Return mail

Despite the extensive coverage of Dr Kelly's death the papers find room for other stories.

The Express recounts the story of a headmaster fed up by a long-running - and fruitless - correspondence with an angry parent.

Michael Brennan, head of a high school in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, received an e-mail from Bill Tompkins asking to speak to three teachers who had complained about his son.

Mr Brennan responded saying he had also received e-mails that day from the parents of the 500-odd other pupils at the school and he was writing to them in alphabetical order at the rate of one child per day.

"It'll be about 1 April 2006 before I get back to you," Mr Brennan wrote.

A spokesman for the county council tells the paper: "We understand there's been a long-running correspondence between the head and this parent on a number of issues..."