The Kelly Affair

Or why this is going to be far worse for the government than it will be for the BBC.

You see the issue all boils down to whose account you trust: Gilligan's, as told on the Today programme, or Kelly's, as told to the Commons Select Committee.

Now, under normal circumstances, the testimony of a no-particular-axe-to-grind Government scientist (especially one so unused to publicity that it caused him to take his own life) would trump that of a BBC journalist.

But not this time. Two reasons. One, because Susan Watts, another BBC journalist got a very similar story (can't quite remember the details) from Kelly.

Two. Because we know the government was being shitty towards Kelly - why else did they reveal his name? That's the shittiness we know about. What about the shittiness we don't know about? Who can say what pressure was brought to bear on Kelly in the week before he testified? The government was in a position to throw the book at him (unauthorised meetings etc) and I am sure would have thrown the book at him whether or not it had been in a position to do so. Dark warnings of removal of pension or worse.

So, in short, poor old Dr Kelly's testimony cannot be trusted.

And the government has cooked its own goose.