Day five: Point-by-point

The fifth day of the Hutton inquiry into the events surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly saw Tony Blair's foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning and Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell give evidence.

But it was the head of news at the Ministry of Defence, Pam Teare, who first took the stand to detail her role in events before the weapons expert's apparent suicide.

MoD head of news Pam Teare

Ms Teare said it was the Downing Street press office that was behind the rebuttal of Andrew Gilligan's 29 May broadcast that called into question the way the government has presented its case for war with Iraq

Ms Teare was asked whether Mr Gilligan had checked his story with the MoD prior to broadcast - she said he had not.

She then went on to explain the growing concern that Dr Kelly's identity would become public.

After the second interview with Dr Kelly, the chief press officer and I reworked the original press statement Pam Teare

After Dr Kelly had been interviewed for the second time Ms Teare and a colleague began redrafting their original press statement and it was then sent to Number 10.

Ms Teare said: "After the second interview with Dr Kelly, the chief press officer and I reworked the original press statement to make it into a more pro-active statement."

She said she had discussions over the draft press statement with, among others, Tony Blair's official spokesmen Tom Kelly and Godric Smith.

Ms Teare said there was concern within the MoD that the wrong person could be named as the source of the Gilligan stories - a situation that would have been "unfair".

"One of the purposes for saying to people that we would be prepared to confirm the right name was ... we were seeking to avoid people who were not involved being named in the media and the only way we could see to do that was to correct wrong names."

Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell

He said he did not have a major role in drafting the dossier.

Mr Powell said that Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon had rung him on 3 July to say an individual had come forward as the possible source to Andrew Gilligan's stories but Dr Kelly was not named to him at that stage.

He added that when Mr Blair was informed he said that normal MoD procedures should be pursued.

I think from the very beginning it was the view of most of us, probably all of us, ... that in the end this was going to become public Jonathan Powell

Mr Powell said a meeting took place at Downing Street on 7 July with all key players including Mr Blair and Mr Campbell.

He said the meeting was "confused" and had gathered to discuss an FAC report that accused the government of being unco-operative with its investigation into the way the case for war with Iraq had been presented.

The issue of giving Dr Kelly's name out did not come up at the meeting although they had discussed whether he was the source.

Mr Blair had asked what was known of Dr Kelly's views on WMD and what he would be likely to say if he appeared before any committees.

Mr Powell said Sir Kevin said that while he [Dr Kelly] on the whole agreed with the war he "might say some uncomfortable things about some specific items about which he had views".

On 8 July a top level meeting at the prime minister's office, including Mr Blair, Mr Powell and Sir David Omand, discussed how the identity of Dr Kelly was likely to come out.

Mr Powell said: "I think from the very beginning it was the view of most of us, probably all of us, ... that in the end this was going to become public."

This is now a game of chicken with the Beeb Tom Kelly

It was agreed that the foreign affairs committee and the intelligence and security committee would have to be informed that Dr Kelly had come forward despite the fact it would recognised that the weapons expert would be called to give evidence.

Mr Powell said that the second interview with Dr Kelly left officials more confident that he was the source for Andrew Gilligan's report although they believed the weapons expert's version had been "embroidered and embellished".

Asked if the strain that Dr Kelly was under had been given any consideration Mr Powell said: "No, it was not something that came to us."

The inquiry was shown an e-mail from Number 10 spokesman Tom Kelly who wrote: "This is now a game of chicken with the Beeb."

Mr Powell said Mr Kelly had been trying to give the BBC a chance to "climb down" in a "dignified way".

Mr Powell said he had personally contacted the MoD to ensure Dr Kelly was being protected from the glare of publicity.

"I think we were concerned - anyone in the eye of the storm has a pretty tough time of it," he said.

Mr Powell was quizzed about the MoD press statement that said an official had admitted to unauthorised contact with Andrew Gilligan.

I believe from the time [Dr Kelly] came forward it was almost inevitable, given the process in which we work, that his name would become known Sir David Manning

He said he had scribbled on a draft version as had Alastair Campbell. Also involved in its compilation was Sir Kevin, Tom Kelly, Godric Smith, Mr Scarlett.

"At the end of this exercise with Kevin Tebbit on the MoD press release, I said to him expressly that you should take this back to the MoD, you should not be bound by it," Mr Powell said.

Mr Powell said Alastair Campbell told him that BBC director of news Richard Sambrook was the source of the Times article giving more details of the BBC's source

Campbell said he had been told that Sambrook was the source by the Times reporter Tom Baldwin

Tony Blair's foreign policy advisor Sir David Manning

Sir David set out his involvement in the Kelly affair saying that he had been told an official had come forward on 4 July.

He said that the case was "unprecedented" but added that the prime minister had insisted that usual MoD procedures be followed as far as possible.

Sir David said Mr Blair had expressed concern about being asked about Dr Kelly's identity when he made his regular appearance before the liaison committee.

"He did not want to commit himself and he wanted to be fair to Dr Kelly.

"He said he did not want to do anything precipitate."

Sir David was asked about comments by Number 10 spokesman Tom Kelly comparing the row with the BBC as a "game of chicken".

"I think on the whole Tom's pretty well-balanced," Sir David said.

"I don't think he would have got himself into a particular state about relations with the BBC.

"My reading of this, and it might not be correct, is that what he wanted to do was impress upon the BBC that we thought that the evidence put forward by Dr Kelly was a direct challenge to their account of events and that they had been unwilling to give any apology."

Sir David said he was not involved in the process of naming Dr Kelly although he said it seemed "almost inevitable" that the weapons expert's name would come out into the open.

"I believe from the time he came forward it was almost inevitable, given the process in which we work, that his name would become known."

Sir David said the prime minister had consulted the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, John Scarlett, over the foreword he wrote to a document entitled Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Assessment of the British Government.

In it Mr Blair wrote that he had become "increasingly alarmed" about Iraq's weapons capability.

Sir David told the inquiry: "I believe John may have made one or two comments that were accepted by the prime minister."