現在地 HOME > 掲示板
> 戦争３７ > 246.html
★阿修羅♪
|
現在地 HOME > 掲示板
> 戦争３７ > 246.html
★阿修羅♪
|
|
ガーデイアン：懲らしめられた議員は没落(fallout)に備える。ケリーの死の影響は計り知れない。
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1001378,00.html
Chastened MPs prepare for fallout
Michael White, political editor
Saturday July 19, 2003
The Guardian
The political fallout from the death of David Kelly may prove incalculable. While hard-boiled ministers and MPs were reduced to near-whispers by the tragedy, it did not stop them defending - or attacking - the government's handling of Dr Kelly after he outed himself as an informant of the BBC's Andrew Gilligan.
Frantic telephone exchanges with Tony Blair's Boeing 777 above the Pacific led quickly to the appointment of Lord Hutton's judicial inquiry with a limited remit.
The No 10 spokesman brushed aside charges of inconsistency after weeks of resisting an inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Alastair Campbell, No 10's communications director, flew back from Washington overnight well aware that he may be blamed by the Daily Mail - and its political allies - for causing the tragedy in pursuit of a vendetta against Gilligan and the Today programme.
"It brings now into question this whole regime of spin and manipulation ... by the government and its advisers. This really does bring it home," said Richard Ottoway, a Tory member of the foreign affairs select committee. More sensitive colleagues stayed silent.
Contrary to instant predictions from pundits - several with axes to grind - Mr Campbell will not be resigning in the next few days, and believes Today's report on May 29 that he had "sexed up" an intelligence dossier justified his anger at the story. He expects to be vindicated.
Downing Street's short-term problem will be the focus on its role in putting Dr Kelly into the spotlight.
MPs on the foreign affairs select committee who fiercely questioned him on live TV last week are also aware they will be accused of bullying a backroom technical specialist for party political gain - or No 10's gain.
But Donald Anderson, the committee's Labour chairman, said: "The tone was not aggressive at all."
Another member said: "We did what we had to do. The war in Iraq was a serious business. He left the room with an unprecedented endorsement from us."
John Maples, also on the committee, said Dr Kelly must have thought "At least I am in the clear with these guys".
Eric Illsley, another member, was implicitly critical of aggressive questioning of Dr Kelly by Andrew Mackinlay.
But he also expressed Westminster's widespread bafflement at the death.
"I can't understand why this man might have felt pressured by his appearance before the committee," he said.
Some MPs suspect that Dr Kelly was holding something back when he appeared before the committee.
Some are asking whether he was protecting key details of his conversation with Gilligan, or acting on instructions from the Ministry of Defence.
Other questions also need to be answered:
Did government officials provide reporters with details to identify the unnamed Gilligan source and throw him to the media wolves?
Did they sit on the knowledge that he had come forward for five days, to distract from the row about weapons of mass destruction?
On the latter, No 10 insists it stayed well away from the handling of Dr Kelly once he told his line manager that he had spoken to Gilligan. Normal processes were observed.
On the former, Downing Street revealed on July 9 that "the person was a technical expert who had worked for a variety of government departments, including the MoD, with whom he was currently working. His salary was paid by another department".
MPs expressed other concerns last night. Some were alarmed at what they saw as an undisciplined foreign affairs select committee at work. Others believe the BBC should now say whether Dr Kelly was Gilligan's source.
But the mood on all sides was a chastened one.
The Conservative party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, suggested yesterday that Mr Blair should consider cutting short his visit to the far east and return home to deal with the issues surrounding Dr Kelly's death.
He said: "I don't want to rule out the recall of parliament. There are still undecided issues about the circumstances of this tragic death and until we are certain of those I would wish to reserve my position."
He welcomed the announcement of an independent judicial inquiry.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, said the news of Dr Kelly's death was "desperately sad", and he welcomed the inquiry.
題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。