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Alice, this can be such a difficult story to retell, but obviously it's a very important part of our recent history. So are you ready to go back into the detail of it? Yeah, you're right. It is hard, but I think that we need to know the next bit. So I think we should. Yes. So let's rejoin things deep in the heart of Westminster. It's the 22nd of July, 2003, and we're in the Houses of Parliament. Tom Kelly scans the clamouring press lobby in front of him.
He's the Prime Minister's spokesperson and it's been four days since the body of David Kelly was found in the woods at Harrow Down Hill. It's been one of the worst periods for the government he can remember. Now he needs to take control of the narrative. His boss, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, Alastair Campbell, is always talking about that. But the problem is, at the moment, Alastair is the narrative. Where's Campbell, Tom? Is he resigning?
Any rumours are purely speculation. What about the Prime Minister? Shouldn't he be back home sorting this mess? Tom Kelly pulls at his tie. He spots a foreign journalist in the front row. He nods at him to ask a question. Hopefully, it will be an easy one. Was David Kelly murdered? He tries hard to look unfazed. The Hutton Inquiry will be doing a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death. He can see Andrew Marr out of the corner of his eye.
He's the BBC's political editor. He tries to ignore him, but Ma shouts his question anyway. Did you assassinate him? Didn't sugarcoat that. Direct, isn't it? You just don't hear the word assassinate associated with our government. Penn's a poised for his answer. He knows he can't back this one off, withholding answers about the inquiry. He turns to Ma and looks him dead in the eye. I would simply say, categorically, no.
Right, that's enough for today. Tom Kelly bolts for the door. He feels the words of the BBC journalist echo in his ears. An accusation of a political assassination is unprecedented. I know, I said that. If the government doesn't do something soon, it'll not just be press conferences. This narrative could take hold and tarnish New Labour's reputation for a generation. Spoiler alert.
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Alice, a lot happened in the last episode. It really did, and so much of it was heartbreaking. To remind us, David Kelly's family were worried sick about him. He'd not come back from his walk, and then, tragically, he was found dead. And the gravity of it, in this context, is understood at the heart of government. So Tony Blair announces a judge-led inquiry, and at the end of the last episode, there's that incredible, dramatic moment where a journalist asks him at this press conference if he's got blood on his hands...
And he just stands there, just stares at the bloke and doesn't say anything. A pin could drop. And the government obviously thought that announcing the inquiry would help calm things down, but they weren't exactly right, were they? This is episode three, The Inquiry. It's the 1st of August 2003, two weeks after the death of David Kelly. His wife Janice Kelly is in the living room with her daughter Rachel. She grabs the remote, anything to take her mind off things. The news flashes on.
Lord Hutton poses for photographers outside the Royal Courts of Justice. The newsreader is solemn. Lord Hutton today opened the inquiry into the death of David Kelly. Evidence will be heard from Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, Andrew Gilligan and Mrs Janice Kelly. Whenever he does the voices, I get so excited. She throws the remote down. A few days later, Janice Kelly has the vicaran fatigue. He was a private man, a workaholic. Rachel grabs for the cordless phone and heads outside to answer.
He loved his work for the UN. There was talk of him getting a knighthood. The vicar nods sadly and looks at the floor. Then he asks about the funeral. Does she want it open to the public? Janice is just about to answer. Rachel walks into the room. She looks pale. What's wrong? There's a piece in The Independent about Dad. They're claiming he's a Walter Mitty, some sort of spy fantasist character. Who said that? Someone in the government. Janice Kelly bows her head. She wants to protect her husband's reputation, her family.
She tells the vicar she doesn't want any press at the funeral. It will be a private family affair. Imagine grieving and then whenever you open a paper or turn on the TV, there's a representation of your dad or your father that just seems so alien and deeply unfair. I mean, it would be horrible anyway to be in the middle of it all, but if he's then being insulted, that just takes it to a completely different level.
A few days later in the village of Longworth, the church bells of St Mary's ring as the hearse carrying Dr Kelly's body moves slowly through the small village. Mrs Kelly is in the car behind, travelling with her three daughters. She spots the one press photographer and one reporter. She'd agreed with the MOD that two could attend, though she'd rather have none after the way they treated David. As the cars pull into the church, she looks up to see the streets lined with people paying their respects to her husband.
Friends, villagers, strangers. A lump forms in her throat as she's helped out of the hearse. She can hear a camera click. She straightens. She will not give them the picture they want. She pushes out her chin. Head held high, she follows her husband's coffin into the church. She will be strong for David. He's fast becoming a symbol of the controversy over the Iraq war, a political football, but he's her husband. She will prove to the world she knew him better than anyone.
Meanwhile, at the Oxfordshire coroner's office, coroner Nicholas Gardiner sits open-mouthed at his oak wooden desk. He's the fifth generation of Oxfordshire coroners in his family, but he's sure no-one has ever had a letter like the one he's holding.
It's from the Lord Chancellor, Charles Faulkner. Remind me. So Faulkner's the one who asked Hutton to chair the inquiry. Oh, yes, I remember. Nicholas Gardiner cannot believe what he's reading. Faulkner is shutting down his inquest. The Hutton inquiry will take over. Oh, right, so there was already an inquiry going on? It seems so. Gardiner picks up the phone. He puts it down again. He's due to retire soon and doesn't want to rock the boat.
He looks at the letter again. He is the Oxfordshire coroner. It's his job to be entirely independent of government. He sits at his computer and starts to type a letter. A week later, Gardiner enters an office in Whitehall. In front of him are government officials. As you will no doubt know, a coroner has the power to compel the attendance of witness. There are no such powers attached to a public inquiry. The officials share awkward glances. I love the passag nature of, as you will no doubt know...
Gardiner looks pleadingly at the three. They smile back weakly. Someone will get back to him. Two days later, Gardiner gets his answer. He starts to read. The Lord Chancellor considers that the cause of death of Dr David Kelly is likely to be adequately investigated by the judicial inquiry conducted by Lord Hutton. His request has been refused.
Just so I've got it straight, he was conducting an investigation. They've halted that, even though, let's be honest, it's probably one of the most controversial deaths of the century. And then they're starting a different one. Why would they do that? It's like in a cop drama in America when the FBI turn up and say, this is our case now. And they ruffle the hair of the local cop and they're like, don't worry, we got this. Yeah, the local sheriff's less smarting, saying these guys don't understand it like I do. No wonder Gardner's peeved by it.
Well, a week later, Gardner sits in the empty coroner's court. He looks to the press area. There's nobody there. Gardner reads the forensic statements before him. He issues a death certificate. Date of death, 18 July, and that David Kelly died by 1A, haemorrhage, 1B, incised wounds to the left wrist, 2, caproximal ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis.
I remember Caproxim all day with the tablets he was taking, but what's the other thing? Is that a heart condition? Yes, coronary artery atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the arteries and it wasn't picked up by his MOD medical, which he had nine days before he went missing. I bet people seized on that detail. As you would imagine, yes, but I'm not sure how rigorous an MOD medical is. It might just be blood pressure, temperature...
I mean, it's not like joining a Premier League football club where they can have him on a treadmill and hooked up to monitors and things. But all these details were just combed over so many times that everything was under the microscope. Absolutely. Gardner signs the death certificate. He knows this is most unusual. The lack of an inquest risks the credibility of the whole inquiry.
If Hutton doesn't have the power to subpoena, and the witnesses aren't bound by oath, Hutton could be viewed as toothless. Even worse, it might look like a government cover-up. Two weeks later, the Hutton inquiry is now well underway. Andrew Gilligan strides up to the Royal Courts of Justice. He walks straight past the sign marked 'Press'. He wishes he was joining the press scrum, but today he isn't. Today, he has to defend himself again. But this time it's different.
A man has died in the resulting controversy. And it's not just his reputation on the line. It's the entire BBC's. This story has just transformed since that initial meeting where he was excited about Scoop. Half an hour later, he sits in Court 73. He knows he has to convince Hutton that his story was accurate, that it was Kelly who told him Campbell embellished the case for war.
James Dingmans paces the floor in front of him. He's the senior counsel to the inquiry. He brings up the notes Gilligan made at his interview with Dr Kelly. Can you imagine if it's just an A4 page of doodles, like dogs' faces, Andrew Gilligan's name in a love heart with somebody called Sarah Kennedy. He's practised his signature loads of times down the side. Yeah, just forget that bit. The left-hand side, Lord Hutton, is the bit that we're talking about. That's actually quite private and that's why I wrote private in bubble letters on the front.
Gilligan admits the notes aren't a verbatim transcript of the conversation. Then Hutton butts in. May I just ask you, Mr Gilligan, looking at the first paragraph, you put the question, was it to make it sexier? And Dr Kelly replied, yes. To make it sexier? Yes, to make it sexier, yes. So he adopted my words. Now, are you clear in your recollection that you asked, how was it transformed, and that the name Campbell was first spoken by Dr Kelly? Yes, absolutely.
It was not a question by you. Was Campbell involved in this? No, it was him. He raised the subject of the 45 minutes and he raised the subject of Campbell. Gilligan walked back past the press room. It's been tough, but he stuck to his guns. It was Kelly who told him Campbell did the sexing up, but there's still no way to prove it. And there is one thing he's worried about. He did amend the notes on the electronic organiser after the interview.
Whoa, OK, so that looks sus. Like, from a layperson's perspective, if he changed the notes after the interview, he could have changed it to anything. Well, it's difficult because he could have just been going back to put more detail after he remembered stuff. But you can only uphold journalistic integrity if you keep proper notes at the time and proper records. And for him, obviously, it suggests at best he's been sloppy on the detail of a very important story. And as you say, at worst, it makes it look like he could have made it up.
And it's not just about the future of the government. If it backfires, it's his future and the future of the BBC. The next day, Susan Watts sits down in the same seat as Gilligan. The courtroom is hushed with anticipation. So we talked about Susan Watts last episode. She's the other BBC reporter who also spoke to Dr Kelly? Yes. We heard about when David Kelly denied that he'd mentioned Campbell to her.
Watt knows that her evidence could back up Gilligan's story. Today, she intends to put the record straight. A tape recording plays of her interview with David Kelly. So there is a tape of their conversation? Yes, this is the conversation that Kelly denied when the committee asked him about it. So this could be a smoking gun? Well, it depends on exactly what Kelly says. Did he claim that Campbell had exaggerated the case for war? Does he use the phrase sex up to Watt's?
On the crackly tape recording, Kelly's quiet voice can barely be heard. He sounds relaxed, at ease. Watts closes her eyes as she listens to the recording of herself.
What interrupts him? Referring to the press, she says...
This is so naughty. So in a way, that backs up Gilligan's story, but it doesn't really. It's still ambiguous. Yes, they're talking about similar subject matter, but he's not using the same phrases. He's not being as emphatic as he was with Gilligan. So again, depending on your perspective of this whole thing, it either confirms or denies what you already think. When Watts gets up from the witness box, she takes a deep breath.
She had wanted to distance her journalism from Gilligan's, but the tape recording just keeps the focus on Alastair Campbell. Tony Blair's right-hand man will have to face the inquiry soon. The fate of his boss will rest on his every word.
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It's a week after Andrew Gilligan appeared before the Hutton Inquiry. Today, Alistair Campbell walks past the heckling crowd outside the Royal Courts of Justice. He looks straight ahead, more determined than ever to stay calm. Campbell rehearses in his head what Tony Blair has told him. Make your answers short. Do not waffle or lecture. Don't be worried about pausing. Call him my lord regularly. Look at him, even if he's not looking at you. Be polite to all the lawyers. Above all, do not get riled.
Yeah, and no pounding the desk like last time, Alistair. I meant to tell you, when he was in front of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, he didn't just pound the desk. He had a pin in his hand that he would squeeze if he felt himself getting angry to keep himself in line. That is a man who needs to do some yoga, some deep breathing. Anyway, Campbell has been practising with his lawyer for days. He wants to prove that he didn't exaggerate the case for war. But everyone is telling him he needs to dial down the round with the BBC.
It's not helping anyone and it makes the government look worse. Half an hour later, Campbell sits in Court 73. The Inquiries Council, James Dingmans, turns to the September dossier. Can I take you on to Cab 1139? This may help. Dossier forward by TB. Mm-hmm. And who had, in fact, drafted that aspect of it? I prepared a draft based upon a discussion with the Prime Minister and with others about what should go into that draft.
Right, so Campbell wrote the foreword that's meant to have been sexed up, but he's saying he pulled it all together from information from various people, so it's a kind of a compilation. Yes, and this is the foreword that mentions the 45-minute claim, which they later accepted should not have been included and apologised for using. Got you. In the courtroom, Campbell grits his teeth. The practicalities of government are being laid bare. Dingmans reads out a quote from Downing Street Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell.
We will need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim that we have evidence that he is an imminent threat. Campbell waits for Dingmans to make his point. Is there any part of the dossier that actually makes that explicitly clear? Campbell swallows hard. He needs to play this carefully. I do not recall the... And I don't know whether that email led to John Scarlett rewriting anything at all. But I know that what we always said was a serious and credible threat to the region and therefore the stability of the world.
So what does that mean? Did he sex it up? Well, Campbell's saying that his draft is based on what intelligence chiefs were telling him and he's the director of communications at Number 10. So it wouldn't be unusual for him to be involved in a process that takes jargon and makes it fit for public consumption. OK, so the thing that he's denying is the allegation that he took what he was being told and deliberately distorted it. Exactly.
When Campbell leaves the witness stand, he smiles at Lord Hutton. He hasn't banged the table. He hopes he's made his case. The 45-minute claim wasn't his fault. He was just following the intelligence reports. It doesn't matter what Kelly did or didn't say to Gilligan. They were wrong. That's his job done, but there's still more danger. There are questions to be asked about the reasons for David Kelly's death, and the Prime Minister is still to come. A week later, and that day has come.
A police helicopter circles over the High Court. Marksmen are positioned on rooftops and balconies. Tony Blair is in the back of his Range Rover as it sweeps into the High Court complex. This is nuts. A sitting Prime Minister appearing at something like this, it just feels so surreal. Demonstrators jab placards in the air, pictures of poodles and the phrase, be liar. They scream abuse. The Prime Minister stares straight ahead. Inside the Gothic building, Blair walks into courtroom 73.
He was a lawyer before going into politics. This is his world. He's soon in his stride, defending his position early against the BBC. It is one thing to say we disagree with the government, you should not have gone to war. People can have a disagreement about that. This was an allegation that we had behaved in a way that if it were true, as I say my statement, tested in this way, had the allegation been true, it would have merited my resignation.
Do you think that would have ever actually happened? Would he ever actually have resigned? I mean, I know that was talked about a lot of the time. Over this, given the nature of the allegation and where it was coming from, I think he absolutely would have resigned. The senior counsel turns to the way David Kelly's name was released by the government press office.
Was there any discussion about the pressure that Dr Kelly might be exposed to when you were having these meetings on the 8th of July? All I can say is that there's nothing in the discussion that we had that would have alerted us to him being anything other than someone, you know, of a certain robustness who was used to dealing with the interchange between politics and the media. Having said that, incidentally, it's never ever a pleasant thing. Indeed, it's a deeply unpleasant thing for someone to come suddenly into the media spotlight.
So did they throw Kelly under the bus by releasing his name? Could they have just kept him anonymous? I don't think you can, particularly not when you need transparency and openness in a democracy. And I think people would have presumed, had we still not known to this day that it was David Kelly who said that, that that would have been kept quiet in the government's interest. So I suppose the question is, could they have looked after him more? Could they have prepared him more for the media storm?
I don't think governments ever give enough thought to when people are thrust into the spotlight what it actually means for them. Now, hopefully, the result of this is that in the future they do. That night, Tony Blair is back in Downing Street. He's got through it, even the questions about releasing David Kelly's name. His phone rings. It's Alistair Campbell. Campbell congratulates him on his performance. Blair senses something's up with Campbell. He's got something important to tell him. Tony grits his teeth.
The next day, Andrew Gilligan's at home on gardening leave. He's miserable and bored. The latest report is that he gave information to the Foreign Affairs Committee about what to ask Kelly. An MP is calling it highly inappropriate, but he comforts himself with the fact he's still got a job. He'll be back to work once this trouble is over. Gilligan's temples throb. His phone rings. He reaches for it. It's a colleague. He's got some good news. Gilligan's ears prick. He could do with some. His colleague pauses.
Gilligan can almost hear him smile down the phone. Anastor Campbell's resigned. Gilligan's eyes widen. What? He cannot believe what he's hearing. This is it. He's won. The voice on the other end of the phone skims through Campbell's press statement. No such thing as a day off. Pressures. Green and intense. It's your family that pays the price. It's been an enormous privilege to work so closely for someone I believe history will judge as a great, transforming prime minister. Gilligan snorts. Does he mention David Kelly? No.
Gilligan shakes his head and listens. So this is huge. Did Alastair Campbell resign because of the Hutton inquiry? So he says he'd wanted to go for a while, and we now know from reading his diaries and looking back that he felt under immense pressure in Downing Street and that his mental health had really suffered. The word resignation rings in Gilligan's ears.
Campbell has become part of the story, so he had to go. But Gilligan knows that goes for him too. He's just as much a part of the story. He stares ahead. His reputation and future career will still be decided by Hutton. The row over the sexed-up dossier has claimed one man's life. It has now finished the career of another. How much further will the aftershocks go? A few days later, Janice Kelly sits beside her daughter in the back of a car. They are heading to the Royal Courts of Justice to give evidence.
She is determined to make sure that the government are held to account over her husband's death. At one point, this was two stories. It was a private story and a public story. And now they're coming together. No one else should ever have to face what David and her family have faced. She knows the questions will be uncomfortable. She will have to share details about her marriage, how they were under strain because of the MOD investigation, how they rowed in the time leading up to his death. She stares out of the window.
She is a private woman, but she knows she has to share this with the court. Her daughter, Rachel, squeezes her mother's hand. At 10.30, Janice Kelly's photo flashes up in Court 73. In a nearby room, Janice Kelly sits in front of a microphone. She is giving evidence by video link. Her voice is clear and composed. She paints a picture of David as a broken man, wronged by his employers.
Shortly afterwards, Janice Kelly watches as the face of Dr Sarah Pape, her sister-in-law, appears on the video link. Janice knows that Sarah spoke to David after he had appeared in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Pape is a consultant plastic surgeon. She is assured and confident.
Janice shrinks a little. She was with him on that final day. But Hutton is the judge, and he will consider the evidence and decide how David died. She just hopes he holds the government to account for their part in David's tragedy.
Three weeks later, Jeremy Gompertz, lawyer for the Kelly family, rises to make his closing statement. "My Lord, the family invite the inquiry to find that the government made a deliberate decision to use Dr Kelly as part of its strategy in its battle with the BBC. This strategy included putting Dr Kelly forward as a witness before the Foreign Affairs Committee in an attempt, which was successful, to undermine the evidence which Mr Gilligan had given and to show him to be unreliable.
Your Lordship will have been moved by the evidence given by Mrs Kelly and her daughter Rachel about the last few days of Dr Kelly's life, about how tired and stressed he was, how unhappy he was, how he felt betrayed by the Ministry of Defence. The government and the nation have lost their greatest expert in biological weapons of mass destruction, yet he was characterised by his employers to suit their needs in the hour as a middle-ranking official and used as a pawn in their political battle with the BBC.
His public exposure must have brought about a total loss of self-esteem, a feeling that people had lost trust in him. No wonder Dr Kelly felt betrayed after giving his life to the service of his country. No wonder he was broken-hearted and, as his wife put it, had shrunk into himself. In his despair, he seems to have taken his own life. Thank you, my lord. Gompertz nods his head to Lord Hutton. He walks back towards Janice and gives her a smile. Hutton will be writing his report soon.
The fate of individuals and institutions are in the balance. David Kelly's family, Andrew Gilligan and the BBC, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair and the British government. The public want justice for David Kelly. They want people held to account. Hutton holds the British people's trust in the government in his hands.
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It's been four months since the end of the Hutton inquiry. Alastair Campbell is sat in his office at home. He's on the phone to Rebecca Wade. She's the powerful editor of the Sun tabloid newspaper and she has some news.
Why? Campbell frowns. What's she talking about? Campbell shakes his head. It's two days before the report is due to be released. No, it can't be that good.
Hang on, how does Rebecca Wade know the results of an unpublished report? She tapped Lord Hutton's phone. That makes sense. I'm kidding. Apparently there was a leak at the printers where it was published. Sure. A few hours later, Campbell is in number 10. His eyes are fixed on the Sky News coverage of brown boxers being loaded into a car. It's the Hutton Report, and soon it will be with them.
Meanwhile, across town, Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC, looks out of his office window. There's the knock he's been waiting for. His PA brings in a brown box. Dyke knows that the BBC will get their hands wrapped, but he's determined they will get through this. British journalism will get through this. Knowing what we know, hands wrapped feels like a gross underestimation.
He takes the document out of the box. It has a pale blue cover and is the size of a telephone directory. On the cover, written in small lowercase writing, is reports of the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly. Dyke scans through the contents and flicks through to the key findings. He scans down.
So that finding is Gilligan was wrong to have said that the government exaggerated the claims.
So David Kelly's also in the wrong and shouldn't have been meeting Gilligan? Yeah.
And the government are all clear? It looks like it. I mean, that's in black and white, isn't it? That's the triple whammy. So the BBC were also in the wrong. And there's more.
That is damning. A few hours later, Greg Dyke is in with the BBC chairman, Gavin Davies. They're both stunned. Hutton has exonerated the government and lambasted the BBC.
Dyke asks Gavin Davies what the plan is. Davies looks Dyke in the eye. "I've no choice. I'll have to resign." Dyke is sideswiped. "Well, I'm not resigning. Nothing that the BBC has done merits a resignation." "I'd rather resign than apologise for telling the British people the truth about the September dossier." Dyke looks worried. He asks Davies not to make any rash decisions. Davies nods gravely. Two days later, they have both resigned.
BBC staff are deeply upset. Dyke climbs onto a desk in the BBC newsroom, waves his hands to quieten the emotional crowd and begins to speak. During this whole affair, my sole aim as Director General of the BBC has been to defend editorial independence and act in the public interest. The crowd clap and cheer. His assistant climbs on a chair and whispers in his ear that BBC staff have walked out all over the country.
I remember the images of this so clearly. Everyone came out for his final exit. It was so emotional. Yeah, but what a way to go. Not many bosses get to leave somewhere like the BBC with their staff crying because they've left. Yeah, usually it'd be tears of joy and relief. The Hutton Report is viewed by many as a whitewash. Tony Blair is concerned that Hutton's findings are too good and have not restored faith in the government over the Iraq war.
Blair acts quickly. On the 4th February 2004, a week after Hutton reported his findings, the government announces another inquiry, the Butler Review. It's tasked with examining the intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. That inquiry isn't without controversy either. Its terms of reference do not include the role of politicians in the decision to go to war, and it's to be held behind closed doors.
The Liberal Democrats refused to take part and the Conservatives, after initially supporting it, changed their mind and withdrew. On the 14th of July 2004, nearly one year since David Kelly appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Butler announces his findings on the so-called 'sexed up' dossier. The language in the dossier may have left with readers the impression there was fuller and firmer intelligence behind the judgements than was the case.
Our view, having reviewed all the material, is that judgments in the dossier went to, although not beyond, the outer limits of the intelligence available. We conclude that it was a serious weakness that the Joint Intelligence Committee's warnings on the limitations of the intelligence underlying its judgments were not made sufficiently clear in the dossier. The Butler report lays the blame firmly at the feet of the intelligence services, but he stopped short of calling for heads to roll.
He says Sir John Scarlett, the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, who provided the evidence for the dossier, should remain in his job. He goes on to become the head of MI6. The report isn't received well. The London Evening Standard describes the review as whitewash part two. But the former BBC director general, Greg Dyke, hails Butler's findings as a vindication, saying it appears to agree that the intelligence, as Dr Kelly said, was sexed up.
Andrew Gilligan tries to claim victory too. I know who's to blame, the country knows, people at the BBC know. Twelve years later, in July 2016, Janice Kelly watches the television in her small Oxford cottage. Cameras flash as Sir John Chilcott steps up to the podium in front of an expectant press. He's been leading another inquiry into the Iraq war. It's been dragging on for six years now, but today he announces his findings at last.
We've concluded that the UK chose to invade before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort. The judgments about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, WMD, were presented with a certainty that was not justified. It is now clear that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed intelligence and assessments. They were not challenged and they should have been.
So that Chilcot verdict was unambiguous, although he didn't go as far as to say Tony Blair lied. Well, the protesters outside are not as kind. They have placards with Tony B. Liar. They're calling for him to be imprisoned. Two protesters with huge rubber Blair and Bush heads dance around with oversized bloodied hands. Three inquiries have all put Blair in the clear, but it seems his reputation will forever be tarnished by the Iraq war.
Janice Kelly lets out a sigh. She looks to the photo of her late husband, David, on the mantelpiece. She switches off the TV and heads out to the garden.
This is the third episode in our series, The Sexed Up Dossier. In the episode notes, you'll find some links and offers from our sponsors. Please support them. By supporting them, you help us offer the show for free. Another way to support us is to answer a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. Nothing personal, promise. A quick note about our dialogue. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but all our dramatisations are based on historical research.
I'm Matt Ford. And I'm Alice Levine. Fiona Evans wrote this episode. Additional writing by Alice Levine and Matt Ford. Our sound design is by Rich Evans. Our senior producer is Russell Finch. Our executive producers are Stephanie Jens and Marshall Louis for Wondery. Wondery.
BP added more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy over the past two years by making investments from coast to coast. Investments like acquiring America's largest biogas producer, Arkea Energy, and starting up new infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. It's and, not or. See what doing both means for energy nationwide at BP.com slash investinginamerica.