MPs accused Gilligan of backtracking

Andrew Gilligan was subjected to a sustained and hostile assault by MPs who accused him of backtracking on his central allegation against Downing Street, documents revealed today.

The Commons foreign affairs committee released the transcript of a secret evidence session with Gilligan held last month, on the day David Kelly went missing.

In the meeting, Gilligan stood by the allegations in his Today programme report and refused to confirm that Dr Kelly was his main source. The details of his testimony appeared consistent with the evidence he gave today at the Hutton Inquiry today. The journalist was forced to admit that his allegation that Alastair Campbell caused the 45-minute claim to be inserted into the September dossier was only an "inference".

But he insisted that it was a "reasonable inference" and added: "It is not an inference which my source would dispute." Gilligan set out for MPs the key conversation he had with his main source. He said: "I asked, 'So how did this transformation happen?', and the answer was a single word, 'Campbell'.

"I asked, 'What do you mean, Campbell made it up?' and he said 'No. It was real information but it was included in the dossier against our wishes because it was not reliable.'" MPs attacked Gilligan, reeling off details of his reports from months earlier which had been disputed or contained details that later proved wrong.