The Hutton Inquiry continues.. with Alastair Campbell offering to 'bite the bullet' for his Prime Minister.. but such an act might not be necissary.. Tony would appear to be in this that deeply, that even the symbolic seppuku of his media rep might not pull him back from the brink of political disaster..
This has been a subject of much sub rosa discussion among those who worked, if not with, then in the same capacity as Tom Kelly.. we all of us note the conditional 'apparent suicide' references every time our confrere's name is mentioned..
And today..Tony's most senior aide told intelligence chiefs their draft dossier failed to demonstrate "an imminent threat" from Iraqthat the comment, in an e-mail from Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell, was written just one week before the controversial dossier on Iraqi weapons was published on 24 September last year...
'A matter of trust', were Tony's own words..
Other key points to emerge on the fifth day of Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly were:
Documents showed it had been decided by 5 September to restructure the dossier "as per TB's discussion".. an apparent reference to the prime minister..
A Downing Street spokesman described the row with the BBC over the Iraq dossier as a "game of chicken"..
Mr Powell said Number 10 had not considered the pressure that Dr Kelly would face after he was named..
The head of the Ministry of Defence press office said it was the ministry which made the decision to confirm Dr Kelly's name..
Sir David Manning said BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan's report "was seen as a pretty direct attack on the integrity of the prime minister"..
Ahh what a tangled web we weave..
Once can't wait to put one's own small pieces of the puzzle on the table..
One also wonders at the cost, both already incurred, and those implied..