Sexing up: Blair gets off, BBC gets it left and right

BBC chairman Gavyn Davies resigned on Wednesday and the broadcaster apologised for some of its reporting on the buildup to the war in Iraq after an inquiry by Lord Hutton lambasted the corporation.

The Hutton report cleared Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying he bore no blame for the suicide of a top Iraq weapons expert. Hutton said he was satisfied ‘‘there was no underhand strategy’’ by Blair’s officials in the outing of scientist David Kelly.

Blair seized on his all-clear and told Parliament: ‘‘The allegation that I or anyone else lied to this House or deliberately misled the country by falsifying intelligence on WMD is itself the real lie.’’ The Hutton report criticised journalist Andrew Gilligan, the BBC management and its supervisory board of governors.

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apologises, chairman Davies puts in papers
•Hutton
report clears Blair
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Hutton’s
who’s who