What Kelly told the MPs

Dr Kelly gave evidence two days before he died

The BBC has announced that Dr David Kelly, the weapons expert found dead on Friday, was the source of a report on Iraq by correspondent Andrew Gilligan.

Mr Gilligan reported that he had been told by a source that a dossier on Iraq's weapons had been "sexed up" on the orders of Downing Street.

Dr Kelly died within three days of giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee inquiry into the government's presentation of the case for war in Iraq.

BBC News Online looks at what Dr Kelly said about his contacts with Andrew Gilligan during that session:

Did Dr Kelly believe he was the source of Andrew Gilligan's reports?

Dr Kelly told the MPs he did not recognise Mr Gilligan's reports and evidence to the committee as being from his conversations with the BBC correspondent.

I do not see how he could make the authoritative statement he was making from the comments that I made Dr David Kelly

He said: "It is not a factual record of my interaction with him, the character of it, which is actually difficult to discern from the account that is presented there."

He added later: "From the conversation I had with him, I do not see how he could make the authoritative statement he was making from the comments that I made."

Meetings with Andrew Gilligan

Mr Gilligan had described his source to the committee as a contact of "long-standing".

Dr Kelly said the first time he remembered meeting Mr Gilligan was in September 2002.

He then said he had met Mr Gilligan twice since then, once in February and then on 22 May.

He said he had never had e-mail contact with him and "very few" telephone conversations.

Why did they meet?

Dr Kelly said Mr Gilligan had approached him in February ahead of the journalist's visit to Iraq. Mr Gilligan wanted to gather information about Iraq, the UN inspection process and possible weapons sites.

He said Mr Gilligan then asked to meet him again after the war.

Dr Kelly said they had agreed that Mr Gilligan would give him feedback on his visit to Iraq.

Alastair Campbell and the September dossier

Dr Kelly said Alastair Campbell, the prime minister's communications chief, did come up in his conversation with Mr Gilligan in May.

I cannot recall using the name Campbell in that context, it does not sound like a thing that I would say Dr David Kelly

He said: "What I had a conversation about was the probability of a requirement to use (chemical and biological) weapons. The question was then asked why, if weapons could be deployed at 45 minutes notice, were they not used, and I offered my reasons why they may not have been used."

(Dr Kelly said he believed they were not used because of the weather conditions and then the breakdown of the Iraqi command and control structure)

He went on: "It came in in that sense and then the significance of it was discussed and then why it might have been in the dossier. That is how it came up."

Dr Kelly was asked about Mr Gilligan's comment that his source had said "Campbell" when asked who was behind a "transformation" of the government's dossier on Iraq's weapons.

Dr Kelly replied: "I cannot recall using the name Campbell in that context, it does not sound like a thing that I would say."

He said he did not believe Mr Campbell had transformed the dossier.

He was later asked if he at any point named Mr Campbell or said anything which might have led Mr Gilligan to report that Mr Campbell had wanted to change the dossier or "sex it up".

Dr Kelly said: "I cannot recall that. I find it very difficult to think back to a conversation I had six weeks ago. I cannot recall but that does not mean to say, of course, that such a statement was not made but I really cannot recall it. It does not sound like the sort of thing I would say."

Later Dr Kelly was asked if he had suggested to Mr Gilligan that the dossier had been embellished.

Dr Kelly replied: "No, I had no doubt that the veracity of it was absolute."

He went on: "All I can say is that the general tenet of that document is one that I am sympathetic to."

Dr Kelly's work on the dossier

Dr Kelly said he was not involved in the process of drawing up the September dossier. Mr Gilligan has said his source was "one of the senior British officials in charge of drawing up the dossier".

Dr Kelly said his role with the dossier was to write "an historical account of the UNSCOM inspections and providing input into Iraq's concealment and deception."

He said he believed he had worked on his contribution in May and June 2002.

He said he had access to secret intelligence material, but that "did not form part of the contribution to those pieces that I wrote".

He said he was familiar with some of the intelligence used in the dossier, but not all of it.

Dr Kelly said he had no knowledge of how the document was approved and did not discuss the process with Mr Gilligan.

Why did Dr Kelly come forward as the possible source of the BBC story?

I did not see how on earth I could have been the primary source Dr David Kelly

Dr Kelly told the committee: "I had a concern that because I had met with Andrew Gilligan in fact I may have contributed to that story.

"When I reflected on my interaction with him and realised the balance between the general conversation and the very specific aspect we are now discussing today, which was a very, very minor part of it, I did not see how on earth I could have been the primary source.

"I did not see how the authority would emanate from me."

He later added: "The difficulty I have is that there are other elements of it which do match the things that I say, and I have referred to that: the issue of the 30 per cent probability of Iraq possessing chemical weapons.

"That is the sort of statement that I do make and may well have made to him, and that is when I became concerned that I may, in fact, be part and parcel of the story."

Contact with Susan Watts of the BBC's Newsnight programme

The BBC has said Dr Kelly was the source of a report about the Iraq weapons by Susan Watts on Newsnight on 2 and 4 June.

Dr Kelly told the committee he did not recognise the quotes attributed to a source by Ms Watts.

He said he had met Ms Watts once, on 5 November last year. He said he had also spoken to her on the telephone about four or five times. Asked if had spoken to her in May, he said he could not "precisely remember", but said it was possible.

Asked whether he was the source of a reported comment that the claim that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so had "got out of all proportion" because of a "desperation" for information, Dr Kelly said: "I find it very difficult. It does not sound like my expression of words. It does not sound like a quote from me. "