MoD press officer quizzed

Ms Wilson said the MoD wanted to stop the wrong name coming out

BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan told the Ministry of Defence it would not need to comment on his controversial story about weapons of mass destruction, the Hutton inquiry has heard.

MoD chief press officer Kate Wilson said she had spoken to Mr Gilligan the night before his Iraq dossier story was broadcast but he did not tell her about the specific allegations.

Mr Gilligan has instead insisted he gave Ms Wilson an outline of the claim that Downing Street had sexed up intelligence in the dossier so Defence Minister Adam Ingram could respond in a live interview.

As the inquiry has its first day of witnesses being cross-examined Ms Wilson was also asked about her role in briefing journalists once Dr Kelly had admitted meeting the BBC journalist.

The press officer said she had spoken to Mr Gilligan at about 1930 BST the day before his controversial broadcast.

Gilligan says he told the MoD about the dossier exaggeration claims

"He called me to say they were wanting to arrange an interview with Adam Ingram about cluster bombs," she said.

Ms Wilson added: "At the end of the conversation I asked him whether there was anything else running on the programme and he said he had something he was working on WMD and the dodgy dossier.

"He said it was not a matter for the MoD so I did not pursue it."

Mr Gilligan's counsel, Heather Rogers QC, pointed out that Iain Watson, the reporter doing the cluster bombs story, had also rung about the report.

But Ms Wilson rejected Ms Rogers' suggestion that two reporters calling about the same story might have "caused questions to be asked".

She added: "If Andrew had mentioned exactly what the allegations were, when we spoke to Number 10 we would have told them.

"We would have had the denial the night before and it would all have been perfectly straightforward."

Middle-ranking?

Ms Wilson said she had learnt about Dr Kelly admitting his BBC links on 4 July at a meeting with the MoD's top civil servant.

Officials at the meeting agreed they could not really know Dr Kelly was the source for the BBC story and decided to pass on news of his admission to the Cabinet Office but do nothing publicly.

Do you agree there is a difference between not preventing someone's name coming out and giving it a healthy push?" James Dingemans QC

Ms Wilson said that at the time she had thought the MoD would never volunteer Dr Kelly's name unless it could be sure he was definitely the source.

But from the very start they were not in a position to prevent the name getting out, she argued.

Ms Wilson said a line in the crib sheet prepared for press officers about Dr Kelly being middle-ranking was not meant as a "slur".

'Small field'

The inquiry has heard about an article in the Times newspaper in early July saying the BBC's source was a military expert now working in Iraq.

Ms Wilson said she had thought that article was potentially a "watershed moment" which put more pressure on the MoD.

She said her boss, news director Pam Teare, had taken the lead in producing the sheet which told press officers to confirm Dr Kelly's name as the official which the MoD had announced had come forward.

As journalists put possible names to her, Ms Wilson had said at one point: "This is stupid I am being pestered".

She had asked if she could give the name out anyway, and was told by Ms Teare: "Absolutely not".

Advice to Kelly

Mr Dingemans asked: "Do you agree there is a difference between not preventing someone's name coming out and giving it a healthy push?"

The press officer replied: "I do agree with that, but I mean, it was a small field to start with."

And she argued there was a distinction between somebody's employer confirming the name and the name coming out.

"The thing we were keen to do was to prevent the wrong name being out across," she explained.

Ms Wilson said she had rung Dr Kelly after the press statement was released to ensure he had her contact numbers.

"I said do you need to think about alternative accommodation. I asked if he wanted anything from me and he said 'no'."

Lord Hutton highlighted that Dr Kelly's wife has told the inquiry the scientist never thought the MoD would release his name.

Ms Wilson replied: "The only thing I can say is the conversation was extremely brief but it was implicit in the conversation that it was extremely likely that his name would come out and probably quite soon."

When the name was confirmed on 9 July, she had asked Dr Kelly's line manager to tell the scientist on 9 July because being "in the media spotlight is never pleasant".

But the scientist had sounded calm when he rang her the next day to say a Sunday Times journalist had visited his home.