Smash hit

Mr Dingemans asked Mr Anderson whether, in his experience, a civil servant had ever been treated in this way by a Government. Mr Anderson said that he was “surprised” when the MoD agreed to allow Dr Kelly to appear.

He said: “You will note that, after the hearing, I was asked by the committee to write a letter to the Foreign Secretary.”

This letter stated: “Dr Kelly has been poorly treated by the Government since he wrote to his line manager admitting he met Gilligan.”

Mr Anderson said: “I think it is fair to say that, when the hearing began, most of my colleagues believed that Dr Kelly was the prime source and he had in the course of his evidence convinced a number, but not all, of my colleagues that he was probably not the source, and therefore that letter conveyed the majority view of the committee.”

Lord Hutton asked Mr Anderson whether the reference to Dr Kelly being poorly treated was based on the fact that the MoD statement had implied that Dr Kelly was the source.

Mr Anderson said that the MoD statement “was pointing in a certain direction”. The comment about Dr Kelly’s treatment also centred on the way in which his name had come to the surface.

Lord Hutton asked if he felt that the disclosure of Dr Kelly’s name could have been handled more sensitively.

Mr Anderson replied: “Maybe the manner in which they did it is open to criticism, but I suspect whatever way they did it would be open to criticism.”

Day eight

Main Points

• David Broucher, a Foreign Office official, said David Kelly told him he would probably be “found dead in the woods” if weapons inspections were abandoned and Britain and American invaded Iraq.

  Dr Kelly had been urging Iraqi scientists to co-operate with renewed weapons inspections and feared that in the event of war it would appear he had betrayed his contacts, some of whom might be killed as a direct result of his actions, the inquiry was told

• Nick Rufford, a Sunday Times journalist, said Dr Kelly told him he had been “put through the wringer” by the Ministry of Defence after coming forward and was shocked at being identified, having been told “it would all be confidential”

• Journalists described how they came up with Dr Kelly’s name using internet searches and civil service directories based on information supplied by the Government about the unnamed official who admitted meeting the BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. Reporters put his name to the MoD, which confirmed that it was him

• Geoff Hoon agreed to David Kelly’s appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on condition that he was not asked about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or the preparation of the dossier, the inquiry was told

  Timetable
  
  Today: The inquiry is not sitting. It resumes on Tuesday.
  Tomorrow: More than 900 documents will be published, including memos, e-mails, and drafts of the Iraq weapons dossier, revealing when and where changes were made.

• Next week: Geoff Hoon will give evidence on Wednesday and Tony Blair on Thursday.

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