Post-Hutton Fatigue Syndrome

For the right it's another escape by that slippery bastard Blair. For the left it's a whitewash, a collusion to silence criticism, and the first step down a slippery slope where investigative journalism comes under increasing threat - a position which BBC staff are keen to encourage, to judge by this report:

News of Mr Dyke's demise broke yesterday and triggered extraordinary scenes at BBC offices across the country. There were spontaneous demonstrations outside Broadcasting House and Television Centre, with placards declaring "Sport Loves Greg" and "Come Back Greg".

BBC Radio 4's PM programme said that staff had walked out in London, York, Glasgow, Londonderry, Guernsey, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Belfast, Swindon, Cardiff and Manchester.

Natalie Grice, NUJ spokeswoman at BBC Wales in Cardiff, said: "This is not about individuals. Broadcasters have demonstrated today their determination to defend the editorial independence of the BBC. BBC staff and their trade unions will not tolerate political interference."

But the Hutton Report wasn't about political interference: it was about the death of David Kelly, and the BBC accusation that the government had lied to the British people about WMDs. The report concluded that the government hadn't lied, and that David Kelly was responsible for the death of David Kelly. To claim that this is about political interference is pure self-serving guff on the part of the BBC. Nor is it very edifying to see Greg Dyke now making it clear that he thinks he was right all along.

Julie Welch writes in the Guardian of her friend David Kelly, under the headline 'Lord Hutton has done Kelly and his memory a great disservice':

Right up to the day David Kelly killed himself, his line manager [in the MOD] was unaware of what the rest of us knew: that even before Andrew Gilligan misquoted him and his interaction with the press came under forensic examination, the 59-year-old scientist was deeply worried about the future - unsure even what his pension would be and whether it would be sufficient for his needs.

Lord Hutton is right when he says that David, and David alone, was responsible for cutting his left wrist with his boy scout's knife. He is wrong in not putting a little context to that action. For those who knew and cared for him, there is only one conclusion: if David had not been parked in the MoD, he would probably be alive today.

There's also another possible conclusion: if Kelly hadn't talked off the record to Andrew Gilligan, who then twisted what had been said to him to produce his report about government lies, making it inevitable that Kelly's name would come out, then he would probably be alive today.