BRITAIN/IRAQ: A dispute between the British govment and the BBC over Iraq took a new twist yesterday when MPs accused the BBC's defence correspondent of changing his story and he responded by claiming he had been "ambushed" by politicians.
Mr Donald Anderson, chairing a House of Commons committee looking into conflicting claims over Iraq's pre-war weapons capability, described BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan as "an unsatisfactory witness". "Mr Gilligan clearly changed his mind during the course of his evidence," Mr Anderson told reporters after a committee session with Gilligan which lasted nearly two hours.
Gilligan responded by saying he had been unfairly treated by a committee made up largely of members of Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party.
"I have not changed my story," he said. "This was a planned ambush by a hanging jury, with only one opposition member present for the relevant section of the meeting."