Editing Hutton Inquiry (section)

==Background==
Kelly had been the source for reports made by three BBC journalists that the government, particularly the press office of [[Tony Blair]], the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], had knowingly embellished the dossier with misleading exaggerations of [[Iraq]]'s military capabilities; specifically, a claim that Iraq had the ability to launch a strike using "weapons of mass destruction" within 45 minutes.

These reports were aired by [[Andrew Gilligan]] on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s [[Today programme|''Today'' programme]] on 29 May 2003, by [[Gavin Hewitt]] on the Ten O'Clock News the same day and by [[Susan Watts]] on [[BBC Two]]'s ''[[Newsnight]]'' on 2 June. On 1 June, Gilligan repeated his allegations in an article written for ''[[The Mail on Sunday]]'', naming government press secretary [[Alastair Campbell]] as the driving force for alteration of the dossier.

The government denounced the reports and accused the BBC of poor journalism. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. Following intense media speculation, Kelly was finally named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July.

Kelly died by suicide in a field close to his home on 17 July. An inquiry was announced by the British government the following day. The inquiry was to investigate "the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly".