BBC chairman Mr Gavyn Davies resigned last night after Lord Hutton condemned the corporation's reports and procedures and comprehensively cleared the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, over the Iraqi weapons dossier and the David Kelly affair.
However, while taking personal responsibility for the flawed reporting and managerial systems identified by Lord Hutton's report, Mr Davies warned that the corporation's future "may not be secure" in the debate about the BBC charter now under way. He questioned if Lord Hutton's conclusions on restricting the use of unverifiable sources in British journalism were "based on sound law" and whether they might "constitute a threat to the freedom of the press".
His comments came at the end of a day of extraordinary political drama directed from the Royal Courts of Justice, where Lord Hutton said BBC reporter Mr Andrew Gilligan's assertions that Downing Street had "sexed up" the British government's dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction - and inserted intelligence it knew was probably wrong - were "unfounded."
The former Law Lord acquitted Mr Blair, his former communications director Mr Alastair Campbell and the Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, over the so-called "naming strategy" under which Dr Kelly was identified as the suspected source for the BBC story, saying: "There was no dishonourable, underhand or duplicitous strategy by the government covertly to leak Dr Kelly's name to the media." Lord Hutton said that the government's "well-founded" fear was that it would be accused of "a cover-up" if it failed to disclose the fact that an official had admitted having unauthorised contact with the BBC reporter.
Lord Hutton concluded that Dr Kelly killed himself following "a severe loss of self esteem" after his public exposure, seeing his difficulties escalating and fearing people had lost trust in him.
A vindicated Mr Blair in the House of Commons told the Tory leader, Mr Michael Howard, that those who had accused him of lying about Iraq's weapons should withdraw their allegations in the light of Lord Hutton's conclusions.
Despite the claims being completely untrue, said Mr Blair, the BBC had never "clearly and visibly withdrawn this allegation" which, had it proven to be true, would have forced his resignation.
Lord Hutton said the Ministry of Defence had been "at fault" for failing to tell Dr Kelly that his name would be confirmed if journalists put it to MoD officials. But this astonishingly mild reprimand apart, his comprehensive findings for the government and against the BBC left Mr Blair unscathed after what had been billed as a make-or-break clash with Mr Howard.
Meanwhile, the controversy over the naming of Dr Kelly took a fresh twist last night when it emerged his family had made a last-ditch effort to persuade Lord Hutton that the government had deliberately made his name public in pursuit of its battle with the BBC.
In a final submission to the Hutton Inquiry - like those of other parties only published last night - the Kelly family's lawyers seized on Mr Campbell's diary entries as evidence of the government's "improper" intent. As revealed during the inquiry, Mr Campbell wrote at one point: "The biggest thing needed was the \ source out." This, they claimed, was the smoking gun: "Alastair Campbell's diary reveals that it was his desire and the desire of others, including Mr Hoon, that the fact and identity of the source should be made public." But given the "impropriety" of what had happened, they contended, it was unsurprising there was no other written evidence.
Lord Hutton ended the televised synopsis of his report by warning the Sun newspaper over its leak of his report. "I am now giving urgent consideration to what investigative and legal action I should take in respect of the newspaper and its source," he said.