Hoon 'tried to silence Kelly'

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was in fresh trouble today after it was revealed that he attempted to muzzle Dr David Kelly when the weapons expert was summoned to give evidence to a Commons committee.

Mr Hoon readily agreed to allow Dr Kelly to be questioned by the foreign affairs committee investigating the build-up to war in Iraq.

But he demanded questioning be limited to Dr Kelly's meeting with BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, to which the weapons expert had confessed. He also set a strict 45-minute time limit on the cross-examination.

In a letter to committee chairman Donald Anderson - revealed today at the Hutton Inquiry into the events leading up to Dr Kelly's apparent suicide - Mr Hoon said Dr Kelly could appear "on the clear understanding that he will be questioned only on matters relevant to the evidence given by Andrew Gilligan, and not on the wider issue of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the preparation of the dossier".

The attempt to curb questioning could now land Mr Hoon with a serious problem. Sir Kevin Tebbit, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, told the inquiry yesterday that although Dr Kelly was in favour of the war, some of his views on the threat from Saddam Hussein's weaponry would be "uncomfortable" for the Government if aired.

That is what Mr Hoon appears to have been trying to prevent.

Mr Anderson told the inquiry he accepted the conditions in part because he feared Dr Kelly might otherwise be withheld from giving evidence at all. He also said that it was a sensible move because the main part of the committee inquiry into the Iraq war had already been completed and it had been reopened only because Dr Kelly had come forward about his meeting with the BBC reporter.

It was following that meeting that Gilligan's report was aired on the BBC claiming the Government's dossier on Iraq's ability to launch weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up".

James Dingemans QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Anderson if he thought the questions asked of Dr Kelly were fair. "I think the tenor of the committee hearing taken as a whole was reasonable and fair - there was a degree of respect," said Mr Anderson. He said Dr Kelly had "appeared to me to be in control of things. He was clearly a man of great competence who was not overborne. There were times when he was laughing. Clearly he was on top of the subject." Mr Anderson said he would have adjourned the hearing if he had seen any sign Dr Kelly was distressed.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's communications chief Alastair Campbell could be recalled to the inquiry to face fresh and potentially damaging questions on his role in the case.

The heat was back on Mr Campbell today after a series of new disclosures - including evidence that he tried to "spin" the Kelly case and had to be dissuaded by colleagues inside No10.