I'm surprised this hasn't been picked up on more. From today's Hutton Inquiry - going through Alistair Campbell's diary with him (ie 'Q.' is the lawyer, 'A.' is Campbell's answer):
http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/transcripts/hearing-trans40.htm12 Q. 15th July, finally:
13 "Looking forward to Kelly giving evidence, but GS,
14 CR and I all predicted it would be a disaster and so it
15 proved."
16 I think that was the point about it not always being
17 good news.
18 A. I think it goes back to the point I made about 9th July.
19 I mean, through this whole episode, really, what has
20 been so -- it has obviously been terrible and far worse
21 for Dr Kelly and his family than for anybody else but
22 what has been terrible from our perspective is that at
23 every stage of this we have felt as it were to be the
24 wronged party and yet nothing has really ever gone
25 according to the outcome that we might have wished, and
229
1 frankly I think it just reflected in the mood that then
2 existed in Downing Street that this was something which
3 we were just going to have to sort of put behind us and
4 forget.
5 Q. "
Despite MoD assurances he was well schooled..."
6 Who gave you those assurances?
7 A. Again, I think that was a -- myself and Jonathan Powell
8 just wanted to be assured by the MoD that Dr Kelly was
9 being prepared, as an FAC appearance does require a lot
10 of preparation. I think it was Kate Wilson, at
11 a morning meeting.
Prepared? Schooled? 'Schooled' doesn't sound like something you should be doing with what was meant to be personal evidence, in front of a Parliamentary committee. Should we now assume that all Kelly's evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee was government spin after all?