Labour links to News International

“When the Tories look for a victim of Baldwin’s journalism they present us with Lord Ashcroft. They don’t see that sympathy for the suffering vulnerability of a billionaire is limited. More to the point is David Kelly – for Baldwin was the News International journalist used to get Kelly’s name out.

For all the awfulness of the Milly Dowler case, the poor child was beyond the reach of this world when the journalists paid for her phone to be hacked. Baldwin’s action as a communications agent for the government of the day started a chain of events which led directly to the death of Dr Kelly.”

For more read Simon Carr's piece in The Independent . Who is Tom Baldwin you might ask, well he is  Ed Miliband's director of strategy and so definitely a relevant figure, not that the BBC would ever say so.

Dr David Kelly update

Some, but not all, medical information relating to the death of Dr David Kelly is released this morning. Do I think this will resolve the matter? In short, no. A full independent inquiry is required but will not happen; 'there are forces....'.

Apparently The Ministry of Justice said it was publishing the details "in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry". Do I detect the odour of whitewash?

Do the BBC seem slightly too keen to push this version of Dr David Kelly's 'suicide'

Take a read of this BBC article about the 'suicide' of Dr David Kelly:

'The death of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly was a "textbook case" of suicide, according to the pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination.'

The keener the BBC are to push the Dr David Kelly committed suicide line and downplay the possibility of murder, the more suspicious I become...

Dr David Kelly (update)

I read that (my emphasis):

'The Attorney General has signalled that he is prepared to intervene in the controversy over the death of Dr David Kelly, admitting that those who doubted his suicide “may have a valid point”.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dominic Grieve said he hoped to settle any concerns about the government scientist’s death to “give the public reassurance”.

His remarks raise the prospect that a full inquest, which could see Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell and other senior Labour figures questioned in public, could finally be held. But the Attorney General said that before he applied for such a hearing he would need convincing evidence that the weapons expert had not committed suicide.

...

Det Con Graham Coe, who found the body, also said earlier this month that there had not been much blood at the scene. Calls for an inquest have come from the former Labour defence minister Peter Kilfoyle and the Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker. At the weekend, Lord Howard of Lympne, the former Conservative leader, added his voice. '

The truth may come out soon...

Dr David Kelly further update

Whilst Bruce Anderson in The Telegraph reassures us that we should ignore the 'conspiracy theorists' and that

'The verdict is self-evident: suicide whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed. Leave him in peace.'

Meanwhile The Mail reports that:

'A leading UN weapons inspector last night added his voice to the growing clamour for a full inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.

Dr Richard Spertzel claimed Dr Kelly was on a 'hitlist' in the final years of his life.

The former head of the UN Biological Section, who worked closely with Dr Kelly in Iraq in the 1990s, has written to Attorney General Dominic Grieve about the 'mysterious circumstances' surrounding the death.

The weapons inspector's body was found after he was unmasked as the source of a damaging BBC news report questioning the grounds for the Iraq war.

Officially, he took his own life.

Yesterday Dr Spertzel told the Mail that the British authorities were 'intentionally ignoring' the issue.

He believes that there is something 'fishy' and insisted that a coroner should examine the death as soon as possible.'

Sorry Bruce but I think there is something severely suspicious about the death of Dr David kelly and something that needs investigating.

Dr David Kelly update

Apparently The Times has a letter today from nine of the country’s leading doctors questioning the verdict that Dr David Kelly killed himself by slitting his wrist. However as I will not pay Rupert Murdoch to get behind his paywall I will have to refer you to The Mail instead. There we read that:

'The eminent medical experts say it is unlikely the weapons inspector could have bled to death in the way the authorities claim – raising fresh doubts that it was suicide.

In an open letter to ministers, they also urge the Government to conduct a full coroner’s inquest to re-examine key medical evidence surrounding the case.

They join a growing chorus of experts who have made their concerns public.

Officially, Dr Kelly, 59, took his own life in woodland near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003 by cutting the ulnar artery in his wrist with a blunt pruning knife.

But a female colleague who served with him in Iraq, Mai Pederson, says a hand and arm injury had left him ‘too weak’ to cut his own wrist. Witnesses say there was little blood at the scene.

And experts have doubts that he lost sufficient blood to cause his death.

It also emerged after the Hutton Inquiry that no fingerprints were found on the knife Dr Kelly is alleged to have used, and that he was not wearing gloves when his body was found.'

Read the whole piece and then catchup on my previous postings as well.

There is so much more to this story than we have been told before. I wonder how the story will be reported by the BBC? I suppose if suspicion falls on MI6 (or similar) then the BBC will report the story with glee but if any links to the last Labour government are raised the story will disappear quicker than you can say 'cover-up'.

Dr David Kelly update

The Mail reports more intriguing evidence about the oddness surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly:

'Dramatic new testimony has heaped pressure on ministers to reopen the investigation into the death of Dr David Kelly.

A female colleague claims that the UN weapons inspector could not have committed suicide as claimed, as he was too weak to cut his own wrist.

Mai Pedersen, a U.S. Air Force officer who served with Dr Kelly's inspection team in Iraq, said a hand and arm injury meant that the 59-year-old even 'had difficulty cutting his own steak'.

...

In a letter to the new Attorney General Dominic Grieve through her lawyers, Miss Pedersen also said Dr Kelly had difficulty swallowing pills, casting serious doubt on the Hutton Inquiry conclusion that he swallowed 29 painkillers before slitting his left wrist.

...

Miss Pedersen's view is significant because she knew Dr Kelly so well, both personally and professionally.'

And if that is not suspicious enough, add the details I have reported before and this from the end of The Mail piece:

'The Hutton Report failed to allay suspicions of foul play in Dr Kelly's death. On the morning of July 17, Dr Kelly mysteriously told a friend by email that there were 'many dark actors playing games'.

In 2007 it was discovered, through a Freedom of Information request, that the pruning knife he is said to have used to cut his wrist had no fingerprints on it.'

Something stinks about Dr David Kelly's death, does it not?


I see that The Ranting Penguin has some interesting views and speculation on this matter...

The Dr David Kelly story continues to intrigue ...

The Mail report that:

'Dr David Kelly: The damning new evidence that points to a cover-up by Tony Blair's government

...

Against this shadowy background, we have conducted a rigorous and thorough investigation into the mystery that surrounds the death of David Kelly. And our investigation has turned up evidence which raises still more disturbing questions.

Our new revelations include the ambiguous nature of the wording on Dr Kelly’s death certificate; the existence of an anonymous letter which says his colleagues were warned to stay away from his funeral; and an extraordinary claim that the wallpaper at Dr Kelly’s home was stripped by police in the hours after he was reported missing - but before his body was found.

Until now, details of Dr Kelly’s death certificate have never been made public.

But the certificate was obtained by a group of leading doctors who have spent almost seven years investigating the case; doctors who believe it is medically implausible that he died in the manner Hutton concluded and are alarmed at the unorthodox way the death certificate was completed.

Near the top of all British death certificates is a box headed ‘Date and place of death’, in which a doctor or coroner should declare the exact location of a death, if it has been established.

Dr Kelly’s certificate gives his date of death as July 18, 2003. It then states in reference to place of death: ‘Found dead at Harrowdown Hill, Longworth, Oxon’.

Why was the word ‘found’ used? Why was the crucial question of ‘place of death’ not answered? The death certificate should be precise about the time, cause and location of death.

The doctors who have investigated the case believe the failure to answer this question leaves open the possibility that Dr Kelly died somewhere other than Harrowdown Hill, the wood where his body was discovered. If this was the case, they are concerned the law may have been subverted over Dr Kelly’s death.

Any such irregularity would inevitably add to the pressure to reopen the case. Indeed, earlier this month it was revealed that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke and Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who have the power to undo Hutton’s 70-year gagging order and demand a coroner’s inquest into Dr Kelly’s death, are poised to re-open the case.

To this day, the location where Dr Kelly died remains a mystery — yet it is surely the most basic requirement of an investigation into any violent or unexpected death.

Nor was the question of the location of death raised at the Hutton Inquiry.

Amazingly, Chief Inspector (now Superintendent) Alan Young of Thames Valley Police, who headed the investigation into Dr Kelly’s death, did not even give evidence to the Hutton Inquiry.

Significantly, it emerged via a Freedom of Information request in 2008 that a police helicopter with heat-seeking equipment which searched for Dr Kelly on the night he disappeared did not detect his body.'

There is plenty more meat in The Mail story and do read it. I think there is even more to emerge...

The Dr David Kelly 'suicide' story takes an interesting turn

It looks as though my prediction of a few weeks ago may be about to come to fruition. Then I wondered that as 'LibDem Norman Baker has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport.... will be being in government get him any closer to the suppressed papers about the death of Dr David Kelly, an issue that has obsessed him for quite some time?'

Today I see that Melanie Phillips writes:

'The death of the former Iraq weapons inspector Dr David Kelly seven years ago caused a political firestorm that profoundly destabilised the Blair government.

Dr Kelly was found dead in the woods near his home after he had been named as the source of an explosive BBC report that claimed the Government had 'sexed up' the evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

In the high-profile inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death, the one thing that was never queried was the premise that he had committed suicide. This was taken as read, and many believed his 'outing' had driven him to take his own life.

Yet now the new Attorney-General Dominic Grieve has let it be known that he may order an inquiry to look again at the assumption that Dr Kelly died by his own hand. At the same time, the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is said to be considering a request to release the medical files relating to the scientist's death.

This is all very much to be welcomed as potentially shedding light on an intensely controversial event that has grown ever more murky as the years have rolled on.

It was especially puzzling, for example, that, as was revealed earlier this year, Lord Hutton quietly ensured the evidence relating to Dr Kelly's death was to remain a classified state secret until 2073.

Given that Dr Kelly had been closely involved in the most sensitive of intelligence work, it would not be surprising if certain evidence given to the inquiry in closed session was to be kept secret in order not to compromise security sources.

But Lord Hutton went much further than this and classified all the medical and scientific records connected with Dr Kelly's death, the post mortem report and photographs of his body.

This inexplicable secrecy can excite only suspicion that the authorities have something very bad indeed to hide. So an inquiry would be welcome if it kills off such speculation.'

Melanie Phillips goes on to remind us of Norman Baker's interest and work on this case and that:

'Those behind the campaign to reconsider the suicide verdict are a group of doctors who have looked at the available evidence and decided that it just doesn't stack up. The points they make are compelling - so much so that Mr Grieve has commended them for making 'an impressive and cogent case'.

For example, Dr Kelly was said to have killed himself by severing the ulnar artery in his left wrist with a blunt gardening knife, along with swallowing some 29 Coproxamol painkiller tablets.
Reputation

He was said to have died either from haemorrhaging blood or a combination of cutting his wrist and taking the overdose.

But the doctors pointed out that virtually no blood was found near his body - and his stomach contained merely a fraction of one Coproxamol tablet.

Moreover, severing the ulnar artery was a very odd way to commit suicide since, they said, it was of match-stick thickness and difficult to access.'

I do not know what really happened to Dr David Kelly but there seems to be far more to the case than the verdict of suicide that was arrived at.

The following passage should be enough to alert even the non-conspiracy theory lovers:

'Mr Baker, who has a ferocious reputation for digging out politically uncomfortable truths, claimed that the police operation to investigate Dr Kelly's death had started around nine hours before the weapons expert was reported missing.'

So will this investigation open the door on any unsavoury goings-on in and around Number 10 before, during and/or after Dr Kelly's death? We shall see...

Norman Baker in the government!

I hear that LibDem Norman Baker has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport. An odd decision but will be being in government get him any closer to the suppressed papers about the death of Dr David Kelly, an issue that has obsessed him for quite some time? My most recent bloggings about this issue can be read here and here.

A prize for anyone who can supply a convincing innocent explanation for this decision

"Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years."

This refers to the decision take by Lord Hutton at the time of his 'inquiry' to keep secret documents relating to the death of Dr David Kelly.

So what would be the innocent explanation for the making of this decision?


For more realistic explanations, I suggest keeping an eye on Norman Baker's website and on Caig Murray's blog.


Meanwhile I note that whilst this story has been covered by The Mail, The Mirror, The Press Association, The Morning Star and others there is of course not a mention of this story on the BBC.

Dr David Kelly update

The Mail report an interesting piece of news, it appears that:

"Six doctors who believe government scientist David Kelly was murdered have launched a ground-breaking legal action to demand the inquest into his death is reopened.

They are to publish a hard-hitting report which they claim proves the weapons expert did not commit suicide as the Hutton Report decided.

They have also engaged lawyers to write to Attorney General Baroness Scotland and the coroner Nicholas Gardiner calling for a full re-examination of the circumstances of his death.

The doctors are asking for permission to go to the High Court to reopen the inquest on the grounds that it was improperly suspended. If Baroness Scotland rejects that demand, or the court turns them down, their lawyers say they will have grounds to seek judicial review of the decision."

As The Mail explains:

"The inquest into Dr Kelly's death was suspended before it could begin by order of the then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer. He used the Coroners Act to designate the Hutton Inquiry as 'fulfilling the function of an inquest'.

Lord Falconer, a former flatmate of Tony Blair, was also responsible for picking Lord Hutton to run the inquiry.

...

Dr Kelly's death certificate states that he died of a haemorrhage, but the results of a post mortem examination have never been made public.

Crucially, the doctors say that Lord Hutton had no witnesses on oath and did not have to make a finding, as the coroner does, beyond a reasonable doubt."

I think a trip to Norman Baker's blog might be in order...

Dr David Kelly

I know that I have blogged before about the odd death of Dr David Kelly and that many people see this as just another conspiracy theory, however there is something that strikes me as just not right about the official version of how he died. So it was with great interest that I read in The Telegraph report that:

"A group of 13 doctors who believe that Dr David Kelly, the Government scientist, did not commit suicide, but was murdered, are launching a legal campaign to demand an inquest."

Apparently (my emphasis):

"After taking evidence from Dr Nicholas Hunt, the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, Lord Hutton concluded that "the principal cause of death was bleeding from incised wounds to the left wrist" combined with the consumption of painkillers and "silent coronary artery disease".

His family support Lord Hutton's conclusion and have said they do not want the inquest to be re-opened. However a team of doctors unconvinced by the findings of the Hutton Report has compiled a dossier which claims that a cut to the ulnar artery in Dr Kelly's wrist could not have killed him.

The 12-page document concludes: "The bleeding from Dr Kelly's ulnar artery is highly unlikely to have been so voluminous and rapid that it was the cause of death."

The doctors also claim that the level of the painkiller co-proxamol in Dr Kelly's blood was about one third of that required to produce death.

...
Dr Halpin said they had argued their case in the legal document in "microscopic" detail and added: "We reject haemorrhage as the cause of death and see no contrary opinion which would stand its ground. I think it is highly likely he was assassinated.!

The doctors have been working closely with Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP, who believes the scientist was murdered by enemies he made in the course of his work as a weapons inspector.

The Hutton Report said Dr Hunt saw "evidence of a significant incised wound to his left wrist, in the depths of which his left artery had been completely severed...The arterial injury had resulted in the loss of a significant volume of blood, as noted at the scene."

But the doctors argue that the artery has the "width of a matchstick in its constricted state" and Dr Kelly's blood would have quickly clotted.

The doctors also cite a number of studies which they say prove for "all practical purposes" that suicide using the means allegedly adopted by Dr Kelly "does not exist in Britain"."

The death of Dr David Kelly is a most intriguing story but I doubt that we will ever be allowed to know the whole truth. There is a quotation that I cannot quite remember that runs something like "there are powers operating in this country that you cannot even begin to imagine"; anybody recall it more exactly and who said it?


UPDATE:
Thanks to commenter Riddler, I know that the quotation is from Paul Burrell (not the most reliable source) and is allegedly what the Queen told him, it runs: "Be careful, Paul. No one has been as close to a member of the Royal Family as you have. There are powers at work in this country of which we have no knowledge. Do you understand?". The quotation and context can be found in The Mail.

Dr David Kelly - that's odd

Here on the BBC is something odd:

"Last Updated: Thursday, 21 August, 2003, 16:07 GMT 17:07 UK

Dr David Kelly told a UK diplomat he would probably be "found dead in the woods" if the UK invaded Iraq, the Hutton inquiry has heard.

David Broucher, the UK's permanent representative on the disarmament conference in Geneva, said the scientist made what at the time he regarded as a "throwaway remark" in February.

It was only when he heard that Dr Kelly had been found dead in Oxfordshire woodland last month that Mr Broucher thought the comment might be more significant.

Mr Broucher said the remark was made after Dr Kelly had explained to him that he had assured senior Iraqi officials that if they cooperated with United Nations weapons inspections they would have nothing to fear.

"The implication was that if the invasion went ahead, that would make him a liar and he would have betrayed his contacts, some of whom might be killed as a direct result of his actions," he said.

"I asked him what would happen then. He replied, in a throwaway line, he would probably be found dead in the woods."

Mr Broucher said he had thought Dr Kelly was talking about possible Iraqi vengeance.

"I now see that he may have been thinking on rather different lines," he added."

How odd...





Thanks to BastardOldHolborn for the spot.

Dr David Kelly's death

I have blogged before about the odd stories around the death of Dr David Kelly. Now I see in the Mail that Norman Baker's book is coming out and is being serialised in the Daily Mail.

Read his theories, I am not a great follower of conspiracy theories but there was something odd about Dr David Kelly's death.

Conspiracy theory or scary truth - you be the judge

I am not a great believer in conspiracy theories, when it comes to a choice between conspiracy theory or cock-up I tend to believe in the cock-up explanation. However there are some conspiracy theories that do have a certain ring to them. Norman Baker MP has been investigating the death of Dr David Kelly for quite a while now. Take a read of the Wikipedia article (above linked) and also of this article from The Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) which is an independent research and media group of writers, scholars journalists and activists based in Montreal. It is a registered non profit organization in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Interesting...

You might also want to take a visit it this blog to read some more and listen to Norman Baker speak about his research and also take part in an interesting Question and Answer session.

You might also want to read some of these articles from - The Guardian, The Daily Mail (written by Melanie Phillips) and The Guardian again. You might also want to read up on "Operation Mason" on the Internet.

Very interesting...