Airstrip One

Badly Spun

Why on earth did Downing Street accuse Dr Kelly of being a Walter Mitty character? First of all it makes it look like they're kicking a dead man. First they drive him to suicide, then they insult him before his funeral. How crass and stupid do you want it? And to bring the story back into the limelight just when it was dying down. This government is not simply nasty, it's also getting the stench of incompetence. That stench will remain while Blair is around.

The most puzzling thing is that this clearly is not true. Kelly would not be helping to run Porton Down, advising ministers and taking a leading part in weapons inspections if he was an old duffer. He was closely connected to intelligence sources, he had their trust, he briefed the press and caused maximum discomfort for the government. After all people were genuinely shocked when they heard the government lied about the dossiers, and that happens rarely these days. This was mainly the work of Dr Kelly and whoever was behind him.

So when John Reid has an outburst about (1) rogue elements (2) within the security services (3) who are causing discomfort to the government (4) by briefing the press and then we hear about Kelly - who pretty much fits the description - why aren't they making more of it? After all the Labour Left love to think that the secret service are out to get them and would rally around any Labour government were it looked as if they were under pressure from people who go around with names like "C". Why aren't they talking about Kelly's rogue intelligence nature more? Search me.