Weapons expert Dr David Kelly told a BBC journalist that Downing Street communications chief Mr Alastair Campbell had changed the British government's Iraqi weapons dossier to "make it sexier", an inquiry heard today.
Mr Andrew Gilligan, defence correspondent on BBC Radio 4's Todayprogramme and the journalist at the centre of claims that the government "sexed up" its September dossier to strengthen the case for war, made the claim in evidence to Lord Hutton's inquiry into events leading up to the scientist's apparent suicide.
Mr Gilligan was asked to read notes, stored on his personal organiser, of his meeting with Dr Kelly on May 22nd this year.
The notes, which were in annotated form, said of the dossier: "Transformed a week before publication to make it sexier, a classic was the 45 minutes, most things in the dossier were double-sourced but that was single-sourced".
The "45 minutes" was a reference to the statement, included in the dossier and repeated to the House of Commons by Prime Minister Tony Blair, that some of Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction could be deployed within 45 minutes of an order being given.
The note then referred to Mr Campbell, saying: "Campbell, real information but unreliable included against our wishes . . . he asked if anything else could go in."
Later, the inquiry heard that senior BBC managers had expressed concerns about Mr Gilligan's reporting.
The inquiry in London heard details of an e-mail written by the editor of the Todayprogramme warning that the report Mr Gilligan had been "marred" by "loose use of language and lack of judgment".
The BBC Board of Governors also raised their concerns, noting that "careful language had not been applied" by Mr Gilligan throughout his reporting.
Under questioning from counsel to the inquiry Mr James Dingemans QC, Mr Gilligan said that "with hindsight" he would have been happier if he had been more careful about some of the use of language in his reports.