New BBC blast over Hutton

The BBC hit back today at the Hutton verdict after top executives were exonerated by an internal disciplinary inquiry.

The corporation said implied criticism in the Hutton Inquiry of Today editor Kevin Marsh was "unjustified" - leaving former BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan to take the brunt of the blame.

It will reopen the row over the Hutton verdict more than three months after the BBC was shamed by the report, which cleared the Government of any wrong-doing.

Acting BBC director-general Mark Byford launched the inquiry after Lord Hutton found Gilligan's 29 May report - that the Government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons - was "unfounded".

Gilligan said today: "I am broadly pleased with the outcome of the inquiry, in that the BBC seems finally to have joined the rest of the country in rejecting the conclusions of Lord Hutton. I reject the claim that I failed to follow BBC procedures. If this had been the case, I would have expected my superiors to have noticed it and mentioned it to me at the time. But they did not."

The BBC confirmed "no dismissals were involved". Among those questioned in the hearings were BBC director of news Richard Sambrook, his deputy Mark Damazer, Today editor Kevin Marsh, former Newsnight editor George Entwhistle and head of radio Stephen Mitchell.