Hoon visits Kelly's widow

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today visited the widow of scientist Dr David Kelly. Looking grim-faced and wearing a sober suit, blue shirt and tie, he was driven to the front gate of the six-bedroom cottage in Oxfordshire and whisked inside by a police officer.

After spending just over an hour inside, he left without comment. Asked what the purpose of his visit was, he replied in a barely audible voice: "I came to see Mrs Kelly."

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman refused to discuss the reason for Mr Hoon's visit.

She said: "It was a private meeting between the Secretary of State and Mrs Kelly and her family. Because it was private, we are not going to be commenting any further and we will not be issuing a statement."

The BBC today turned up the heat in its bitter row with the Government over Iraq - revealing it holds a tape of scientist David Kelly strongly criticising Downing Street.

The weapons expert is said to have complained that No10 was "desperate" for information to back Tony Blair's warnings that weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam Hussein were a major menace.

He also charged that the claim in the Government's dossier that Iraq could launch its weapons within 45 minutes had been exaggerated "out of all proportion".

However, it appears the tape does not confirm the central charge from the BBC's reporter Andrew Gilligan that the 45-minute claim was inserted by Downing Street against the wishes of the Intelligence Services.

BBC sources said today that the recording of the conversation with Susan Watts, science editor of Newsnight, which will be put before the inquiry headed by Lord Hutton, was "a useful part of its evidence, rather than the centrepiece".

Any undeniable record of Dr Kelly voicing criticism of Downing Street's role will, however, increase the already massive pressure on the Government over the way it handled the run-up to war.

Mr Blair returns to Britain tonight, his Far East tour cut short by one day because of a typhoon heading for Hong Kong, with no sign of the row dying down.

The Prime Minister will face the most intense questioning yet over the crisis caused by Dr Kelly's death when he holds his press conference in Downing Street on Monday.

Although some of Downing Street's problems were eased by the fact that the Commons has dispersed for the summer recess, MPs and others continued to voice doubts over the continuing failure to find evidence of Iraq's weaponry and the continuing problems in Baghdad and beyond under coalition rule.

Mr Blair has angrily denied that he personally authorised the leaking of Dr Kelly's identity to the media. But his rebuttal yesterday only served to increase the pressure on Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and the Prime Minister's communications director, Alastair Campbell.

Downing Street has already stressed that the MoD was responsible for the handling of Dr Kelly's case after he came forward to confess that he had held an unauthorised conversation with Mr Gilligan.

But No10 acknowledged that it was consulted during the days before Dr Kelly was exposed as the mole behind the BBC's charges that the Iraq dossier had been "sexed up" by Downing Street.

The MoD last night said that reports that Mr Hoon had ordered officials to co-operate with journalists seeking to identify Dr Kelly were "misleading".

The point was also made by Mr Hoon's allies that the permanent secretary at the MoD, Sir Kevin Tebbit, was present at the meeting which decided how Dr Kelly's case should be handled. Despite that, many believe that if the Hutton Inquiry finds that Dr Kelly was not given proper protection by his department, Mr Hoon would find it hard to hold on to his Cabinet post.