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Last Updated: Wednesday, 28 January, 2004, 14:48 GMT
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Key points: The Hutton report
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Here are the major points from Lord Hutton's report into events surrounding the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
ON DR KELLY'S DEATH
Dr Kelly took his own life and no third party was involved
No-one involved could have contemplated that Dr Kelly would take his own life as a result of the pressures he felt
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THE HUTTON REPORT
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Dr Kelly was not an easy man to help or to whom to give advice
Can not be certain of factors that drove Dr Kelly to suicide
Dr Kelly probably killed himself because of extreme loss of self-esteem and would have seen himself as being publicly disgraced
Dr Kelly would have felt his job was at risk and that his life's work could be undermined
ON ANDREW GILLIGAN'S REPORT
Andrew Gilligan's report that Downing Street "probably knew" the 45-minute claim in its Iraq dossier was wrong was a grave allegation and attacked the integrity of the government and the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)
The 45-minute claim in the Iraq dossier was based on a report received by the intelligence services that they believed to be reliable
Whether or not that source was subsequently shown to be unreliable, the central allegation made by Andrew Gilligan in his BBC report was unfounded
The allegation that the reason the claim was not in the original draft of the dossier was because it was only from one source and the intelligence service did not believe it to be true, was also unfounded
It is not possible to reach a definite conclusion as to what Dr Kelly said to Mr Gilligan
Satisfied Dr Kelly did not say to Mr Gilligan that the government knew the 45-minute claim was wrong or that intelligence agencies did not believe it was necessarily true
ON THE BBC
Editorial system at BBC was defective in allowing Mr Gilligan's report to go to air without editors seeing a script
BBC management failed to make an examination of Mr Gilligan's notes of the interview with Dr Kelly
There was a defect in the BBC's management system relating to the way complaints were investigated
BBC governors failed to investigate Mr Gilligan's actions properly
ON THE PREPARATION OF THE DOSSIER
The Prime Minister's desire to have as compelling a dossier as possible may have subconsciously influenced the JIC to make the language of the dossier stronger than they would otherwise have done
The JIC and its chairman, John Scarlett, were concerned to ensure that the contents of the dossier were consistent with the intelligence available to the JIC
The dossier could be said to be "sexed up" if this term is taken to mean it was drafted to make the case against Saddam as strong as intelligence
permitted
But in the context of Mr Gilligan's report, "sexed up" would be understood to mean the dossier was embellished with items of intelligence known or believed to be false or unreliable. This allegation is unfounded
ON THE NAMING OF DR KELLY
There was no underhand government strategy to name Dr Kelly
It was necessary to have Dr Kelly before the foreign affairs committee
If details that a civil servant had come forward to volunteer he had met Mr Gilligan had been withheld, the government would have been accused of a cover-up
The Government's belief that Dr Kelly's name was bound to come out was well
founded
MoD did take some steps to help Dr Kelly once his name was made public
The MoD was at fault in the way it dealt with Dr Kelly once his name was made public
MoD failed to tell Dr Kelly his name would be made public
Dr Kelly's exposure to press interest was only one of the issues putting him under stress
OTHER ISSUES
The publishing of leaked extracts of the report in the Sun newspaper was deplorable
Investigative and legal action is being considered over the leak
Final submissions to the inquiry from parties involved are being made public
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