Saturday 16 April 2011

The Death of David Kelly - Three crucial missing words in the FAC transcript

In the preceding post, The Death of David Kelly - Video of his evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, I drew attention to the video of David Kelly's evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 15th July 2003.

At approximately 01:03:20 of the video we see the following interaction (the following quote is from the transcript of the Oral Evidence):


Q167 Andrew Mackinlay: I reckon you are chaff; you have been thrown up to divert our probing. Have you ever felt like a fall-guy? You have been set up, have you not?

Dr Kelly: That is not a question I can answer.

Q168 Andrew Mackinlay: But you feel that?

Dr Kelly: No, not at all. I accept the process that is going on.

Q169 Chairman: I am sorry. You accept ... ?

Dr Kelly: I accept the process that is happening.


There are three crucially important words omitted from the transcript.

In his answer to Q168 David Kelly says, "I accept the process that is going on. I have to.".

David Kelly had to accept the process.

Who applied pressure to make him "accept the process"?

The question has, to the best of my knowledge, never before been asked since the three crucial words in his evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee have been overlooked for some 7 years.

8 comments:

  1. Exert from Alistair Campbell’s diary (Cab/39 0001-00020)
    15th July 2003
    Looking forward to Kelly giving evidence, but GS, CR and I all predicted it would be a disaster and so it proved. Despite MOD assurances he was well schooled...

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  2. It's interesting that Campbell seems to have viewed the Foreign Affairs Committee appearance as a "disaster". On page 2 of Extract from Alistair Campbell's Diary.

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  3. I wonder which aspect(s) Campbell viewed as a "disaster"?

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  4. Strange period omission in that "Campbell diary": 10-14 July.

    David Kelly, the missing days.

    He is "in Cornwall" and nobody is discussing him.

    Why was Campbell looking forward to the FAC appearance?

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  5. I think receiving a CMG tends to point one in a certain direction, and it is very difficult to do a U-turn.

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  6. Felix, good point about Campbell being quiet between 10-14 July. Even taking out the weekend (12-13) that still leaves 10, 11 and 14 July. I suppose that once Dr Kelly had been outed Campbell had achieved one aspect of what he wanted and it was just then a case of waiting for the FAC meeting to take place.

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  7. Andrew

    Perhaps Campbell thought it was a disaster because Bill Olmer brought up the so-called C word ,continued by Greg Pope, asking how Campbell's name had come up in the conversation with Gilligan at the Charing Cross Hotel on 22 May 2003. In the end, the FAC let Dr Kelly off the hook, and it was left as an unknown.

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  8. One strange aspect of those diary extracts at CAB/39/0001-2: their release to the Hutton Inquiry was only announced by Lee Terence Hughes,Secretary to the Inquiry, on 22 September immediately before Campbell himself, followed by Tom Kelly & Co took the stand (and finally by Kevin Tebbit) and referred to by them. So when were these pages provided to the Inquiry? This, despite Hughes appearing before Lord Hutton on 21 August, one whole month earlier, to say that all documents would from that day be put on the website (with a few exceptions) That did not happen.

    Incidentally, GS = Godric Smith. CR = Catherine Rimmer,former BBC journalist of Tony Blair's research and information unit,who was at the Downing Street meeting at 8.15am as per notes made by John Scarlett of MI6, strangely only written on 21 July when I guess , balloon having gone up, everybody was dashing to get all ducks to line up.

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