Day two: Key points

BBC correspondents Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts have been giving evidence on the second day of Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly. Here are the key points.

---

Andrew Gilligan's evidence:

Mr Gilligan said Dr Kelly told him the government's dossier on Iraq's weapons had been transformed on the orders of government communications chief Alastair Campbell.

Neither of them denied it. One said something I could not take as a confirmation. 'I think I you should keep digging,' something like that. Andrew Gilligan on checking his story with 'senior contacts'

He said he checked the story with "two senior government contacts" and neither denied it.

He said: "One said something I could not take as a confirmation. 'I think you should keep digging,' something like that."

He said the Ministry of Defence had been told about his Today programme report on BBC Radio 4 and been given the opportunity to comment on it.

He admitted that his use of language in one report "wasn't perfect". He had suggested in the report that the government knew a claim about Iraq deploying weapons in 45 minutes was wrong.

Dr Kelly had told Mr Gilligan that Iraq's weapons programme was "small", the reporter said.

This was a good piece of investigative journalism marred by flawed reporting. Our biggest millstone is a loose use of language and lack of judgement in some of his phraseology Today editor Kevin Marsh on the Gilligan report

Kevin Marsh, Mr Gilligan's boss at Radio 4's Today programme, had said in an email that Mr Gilligan's report was "good investigative journalism marred by flawed reporting", the inquiry heard.

Mr Gilligan said that was not "an entirely fair analysis"

He quoted an email he received from Mr Marsh just 24 hours after the disputed broadcast.

I never intended to give anyone the impression that it was not real intelligence or that it had been fabricated, but I think that I must have done Andrew Gilligan on the 45-minutes claim

Mr Marsh wrote: "It is really good to have you back here in the UK. Great work, great stories, well handled and well told."

The BBC governors had said Mr Gilligan had not used "careful language", the inquiry heard

Mr Gilligan said it would be unrepresentative to focus on one report out of the 19 he had done on Dr Kelly's views.

I do not think he set out to take on the government....I just think he was expressing his professional opinion of the dossier Andrew Gilligan on David Kelly

Mr Gilligan said Dr Kelly had agreed the quotes the BBC reporter could use in his reports

He said he did not name Alastair Campbell in his initial broadcasts because he didn't want to cause "a row" with him

Mr Gilligan said it was him who had first used the word "sexier" in his discussions with Dr Kelly. Dr Kelly had adopted it, he said.

He said he had tried to contact Dr Kelly after his reports were broadcast, but was worried telephone calls between the two men would be monitored by the security services

He said Dr Kelly had been "open and helpful"

Mr Gilligan had contacted him after he was suggested as a contact by a fellow BBC reporter

He said Dr Kelly was the UN weapons inspector "most feared and most respected" by the Iraqis

---

Susan Watts evidence:

Ms Watts said she had spoken to Dr Kelly three times during May, the last of which conversations she had taped.

On the 7 May, their discussions included the 45 minute claim. Her shorthand notes from that conversation read: "It was a mistake to put in. Alastair Campbell seeing something in there. Single source but not corroborated. Sounded good."

My impression is that he thought very definitely that there were weapons programmes and that if there were to be any evidence of this, it might well be a lengthy process to find that evidence Susan Watts on Dr Kelly

Ms Watts said the remarks had been a "gossipy aside" which she had not used in her report. She did not think them particularly controversial and had no reason to believe Dr Kelly had particular access to make her confident enough to broadcast the claims on Newsnight.

"It was unlike him to speculate in what I would characterise as that glib way," she said.

Dr Kelly had suggested the 45 minute number had come from the fact that Iraqis had in 1991 "played around" with multi-barrelled launchers, which took 45 minutes to fill, said Ms Watts.

"He was not suggesting it was necessarily wrong" - just that there could be other interpretations.

My shorthand notes show that Dr Kelly said to me that it was a mistake to put in, Alastair Campbell seeing something in there, single source, but not corroborated, sounded good Susan Watts on the 45 minute claim

Ms Watts did make herself a note to follow up the mention that the 45-minute claim was single sourced.

"In hindsight, he was passing that information to me three weeks before it became public," she added.

That showed the access Dr Kelly enjoyed in government, she argued, as only at the end of May had Defence Minister Adam Ingram conceded the claim did only have one source.

Ms Watts will continue her evidence on Wednesday, when the inquiry looks set to hear the tape of a later conversation with Dr Kelly.