Kelly lawyer calls Hoon a liar and hypocrite
UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was today labelled a liar and a hypocrite by the lawyer for the family of David Kelly as he launched a blistering attack on Britain's Ministry of Defence.
In his closing submission to the Hutton Inquiry, Jeremy Gompertz, QC, accused the UK government of treating Dr Kelly as a "pawn" in its bitter battle with the BBC over the alleged "sexing up" of the Iraq weapons dossier.
He said Mr Hoon had been guilty of a "cynical abuse of power" in the MoD's treatment of the weapons expert in the days leading up to his death.
And the UK defence secretary's denials that he had been involved in a strategy to publicly name Dr Kelly as the BBC's source had been exposed as "hypocrisy" by entries in the diary of No 10 communications chief Alastair Campbell.
"They indicate with clarity, if accepted by the inquiry, that the Secretary of State's denials of the (UK) government's strategy, put to him in cross-examination, were false," Mr Gompertz said.
"Indeed they reveal he was an enthusiastic supporter of the proposal to put Dr Kelly's name into the public domain.
"This is totally contrary to his previous stance.
"If, as the family submit, there was a strategy to out Dr Kelly, to use a witness to undermine Andrew Gilligan in furtherance of the government's dispute with the BBC, this was a cynical abuse of power and deserves the strongest possible condemnation."
