No 10 apologises for ‘slur’

A day after labelling dead Iraqi weapons expert Dr David Kelly as a ‘‘Walter Mitty character’’, the Prime Minister’...

A day after labelling dead Iraqi weapons expert Dr David Kelly as a ‘‘Walter Mitty character’’, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman today apologised for having done so.

Tom Kelly confirmed today that he used the term but insisted it was not an attempt to smear Dr Kelly. He said in a statement issued by Downing Street: ‘‘We have sought to keep briefing to a minimum in accordance with the PM’s wishes. I regret that what I thought was a private conversation with a journalist has led to a controversy. That was not my intention, nor was I signalling a government strategy aimed at discrediting Dr Kelly, as I have explained to the Deputy PM.’’

Walter Mitty, a fictional character created by American author James Thurber, is a fantasist with delusions of grandeur. The latest controversy erupted just one day before Kelly’s funeral, due on Wednesday.

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‘‘What I was trying to do was to outline questions facing all the parties that the Hutton inquiry (into Kelly’s death) would have to address. It was in that context that the phrase ‘Walter Mitty’ was used, but it was meant as one of several questions facing all parties, not as a statement of my view, or the government…I apologise to Dr Kelly’s widow and her family,’’ Tom Kelly said.

Glenda Jackson, a former minister from Blair’s Labour Party and an outspoken critic of the government’s policy on Iraq, said attempts by Blair’s office to discredit Kelly hours before his funeral were ‘‘obscene’’, ‘‘unspeakable’’ and ‘‘beneath contempt’’.

‘‘It would seem that No 10’s capacity to disgust us would seem positively boundless,’’ she said.

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