Earthquake at the Beeb
BBC chairman Gavyn Davies has resigned.
It comes after Lord Hutton said the suggestion in BBC reports that the government “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s weapons with unreliable intelligence was “unfounded”.And he criticised “defective” BBC editorial processes over defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s broadcasts of the claims on the Today programme.
Announcing his resignation, Mr Davies said the people at the top of organisations should accept responsibility for their actions.
“I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee, and that the referee’s decision is final,” he said.
He would be writing to the prime minister to tender his resignation with immediate effect.
Lord Hutton also said he was satisfied Dr Kelly had killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBC’s controversial weapons dossier story.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said the report showed “the allegation that I or anybody else lied to the House or deliberately misled the country by falsifying intelligence of weapons of mass destruction is itself the real lie”.
“I simply ask that those that have made it and repeated it over all these months now withdraw it fully, openly and clearly,” he said.