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Fury over 'slur' on Iraq scientist
LONDON, England -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is under intense fire over remarks one of his spokesmen made about the late weapons expert David Kelly on the eve of his funeral. The uproar was sparked by a newspaper report Monday quoting an unnamed government official suggesting that Kelly was a "Walter Mitty"-style character who may have exaggerated his role in assessing Blair's case for war in Iraq. On Tuesday, one of Blair's official spokesmen, Tom Kelly, admitted he was the source of the remark in The Independent and apologized "unreservedly" for using the term "Walter Mitty" in connection with the scientist. Mitty, the protagonist of a 1941 story by American author James Thurber, is an ordinary man who dreams of being a hero. The spokesman insisted his remark was not an attempt to smear the former weapons inspector, who was apparently driven to suicide after being named the source of a BBC report that the government had hyped up the weapons threat from Iraq. Kelly said he had been outlining questions that a judicial inquiry into the scientist's death would have to consider, but that he did not claim to have the answers. "It was in that context that the phrase 'Walter Mitty' was used, but it was meant as one of several questions facing all parties, not as a definitive statement of my view, or that of the government," he said. "We were discussing questions, not answers." He said he had not intended for the conversation with The Independent reporter to become public. Critics have attacked the government and called for the spokesman to be fired, saying that despite Blair's calls for respect and restraint after Kelly's death, his team was apparently still trying to influence the row behind the scenes. Former Labour minister Glenda Jackson -- an outspoken critic of Blair's Iraq policy -- said the spokesman's comments hours before Kelly's funeral were "obscene," "unspeakable" and "beneath contempt." Kelly's funeral is Wednesday. "It would seem that No. 10's capacity to disgust us would seem positively boundless," she told BBC radio. "We are in a situation where a man has lost his life, his family has been deprived of a husband and father, and it would seem that Number 10 is determined to take away his reputation. "It is to me beyond belief that someone who is the prime minister's official spokesperson should be engaging in a conversation on this level about a man who has so recently and tragically lost his life. "In my view, he should lose his job. I don't think he should be afforded the luxury of resigning -- I think he should be sacked." Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell, who had earlier called the official's position untenable, welcomed Kelly's apology but said the government must now drop the whole "culture of spin." "Tom Kelly has done the right thing," Campbell said. "This unqualified apology deals with the short-term problem, but the whole episode raises some longer-term issues which the prime minister really must address. "It is time to abandon the whole culture of spin and off-the-record briefings. We need a new atmosphere of openness and transparency if the political system is to regain public trust." David Kelly apparently slashed his wrist near his Oxfordshire home on July 17 after being named as the source of a May report on the BBC that led to a bitter row between the broadcaster and Blair's office. Two days earlier, Kelly had appeared before a committee of members of Parliament to explain his briefing to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan. Kelly told the committee he did not see how his comments to Gilligan could be the basis for the reporter's claims that Blair's communications director, Alastair Campbell, interfered with a dossier on the threat posed by Iraq. Blair vehemently denies hyping the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. A judicial inquiry led by Lord Hutton has been launched into the circumstances surrounding Kelly's death. Blair and other senior figures will give evidence in the coming months.
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