THE FIRST cracks at the top of the BBC over the handling of the David Kelly tragedy appeared last night with a demand from one of the eleven governors for an emergency meeting of the board.

The governor told The Times that there should be an early meeting to review whether the board had all the facts it needed when it met on July 6 to back Andrew Gilligan, the BBC’s defence correspondent, and the corporation’s decision to broadcast claims that Downing Street had “sexed up” the Iraqi intelligence dossier.

A second governor voiced grave misgivings over the BBC’s revelation on Sunday that Dr Kelly was the sole source for the claims that Downing Street had exaggerated the intelligence dossier of September last year.

The governor, who declined to be named, suggested that the governors had thrown their full weight behind Mr Gilligan, who ran the original report on the Today programme, because of assurances that the source came from the intelligence services.

The board’s statement on July 6 said that journalists could rely on single sources in exceptional circumstances, such as when they were based on “senior intelligence sources.”

The clear implication was that the board was convinced that the story in question had been so based. But Dr Kelly, posthumously unmasked as the main source, was not in the intelligence services.

The Times has also learnt that the statement released on Sunday admitting that Dr Kelly was the main source of the story caused intense strains at the top of the BBC and was agreed only at the fifth attempt.

It was revealed last night that Mr Gilligan has been taken off reporting duties until the conclusion of Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the controversy which could be at least two months away.

“He is not suspended but Andrew Gilligan needs time to prepare to give evidence to the Hutton inquiry,” a BBC official said. “Until then he has been taken off active reporting. You will not hear his voice on the radio.”

Meanwhile, the BBC vice chairman has written to The Times denying that Gavyn Davies, the Chairman, misled the governors.

Lord Ryder of Wensum, in a letter today, says that neither Mr Davies nor the board knew the identity of the BBC’s source until after Dr Kelly’s death on Friday. However, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, did write to Mr Davies this month saying that Dr Kelly had come forward as a potential source.

Lord Hutton yesterday announced the terms of his inquiry, suggesting that he alone would decide how wide it should go. It would be held mostly in public and produce its findings as soon as possible.

The Government is braced for the inquiry to finish towards the end of September, as the party conference season gets under way.

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