Hutton report to be published on January 28

Lord Hutton's report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly will be published in Parliament on January 28.

Lord Hutton has said that the six parties represented at the Inquiry – the government, the BBC, Dr Kelly's family, the Speaker's Counsel, Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts – will have 24 hours notice of the report.

However, in order to prevent leaks, all parties will be required to sign an undertaking not to reveal the contents of the report before publication.

On the day of publication Lord Hutton will make a statement summarising his report in Court 76 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The inquiry began sitting on August 1, just two weeks after the apparent suicide of the former UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. His body was found alone in a field close to his home in Oxfordshire on July 17 – two days after he appeared before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. He had suffered cuts to his wrists.

Dr Kelly was the source of two damaging reports by BBC Radio 4's Andrew Gilligan and Newsnight's Science editor Susan Watts.

However, it was Mr Gilligan's report on May 29, and his follow up article for the Mail on Sunday, which drew most attention from the government.

The newspaper article contained the allegation that the Prime Minister's director of communications, Alistair Campbell, had "sexed up" Downing Street's September dossier on Iraq weapons capability – suggesting that Mr Campbell had insisted that a statement be inserted into the dossier claiming Iraq's weapons of mass destruction could be deployed against British interest within 45 minutes. Mr Campbell furiously denied the accusations contained in Gilligan's reports.

During the heightening of tensions between the BBC and the government, Dr Kelly wrote to his superior at the MoD admitting that he had talked to the BBC. The MoD press office then allowed Dr Kelly to be named to reporters. In the final stages of the inquiry, a senior civil servant said that the Prime Minister had chaired the meeting at which the decision to name Dr Kelly to the press was made. Mr Blair had strenuously denied this in the earlier testimony.

The findings of the Hutton report may have serious repercussions, not only for the BBC, the personal standing of the Prime Minister and the influence professional advisers have within Number 10, but also for the civil service and the level of protection and guidance that it affords to its employees.

(gmcg)