Blair's press spokesman fuels Kelly controversy (update)

[tinnypriv]

Note: Webpages aren't updated yet, but in tomorrow's papers Blair and his press guy get both barrels in The Telegraph, the FT, The Times and The Guardian.

Blair's press spokesman fuels Kelly controversy
Financial Times, August 5 2003

Tony Blair's chief press officer, Tom Kelly, is the Downing Street official who described the scientist at the heart of the Iraq weapons row, David Kelly (pictured), as a "Walter Mitty" fantasist, it emerged on Monday night.

John Prescott, deputy prime minister, was forced to issue a stern warning across the government on Monday that there should be no disparaging remarks about Mr Kelly, whose funeral is due to take place on Wednesday.

...

Number Ten did not apologise to the scientists's family, but insisted that "any conversation was simply looking at the questions for all concerned that the inquiry would have to answer". In a statement Downing St said: "It was not intended as an official briefing nor does it reflect the government's view, which is that only the Hutton inquiry can answer these questions."

The Independent quoted an unnamed "senior Whitehall source" saying that the scientist had misled the government and the BBC over claims that Downing Street spiced up an intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The source suggested that the scientist told the BBC more than he knew, adding: "This guy was a Walter Mitty."

...

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059478702460&p=1012571727085

[samsingh]

1. these people have no shame.

.

[NJCher]

2. unbelievable

And now Cherie Blair has a new flap because she allowed a photographer in their bedroom. The photog snapped a shot of Cherie getting her lipstick applied by some stylist type. This woman is engaging in frivolities like this while British soldiers are stuck in 120 degree heat?

Sickening.


Cher

[Mokito]

4. There's more to the Cherie Blair-Carol Caplin thingy

This is Cherie Blairs Stylist Adviser/Guru

CAROL CAPLIN

Former page 3 girl Carol Caplin recently hit the headlines when her relationship with Cherie Blair was spread accross the tabloids
(warnig: nudity on linked page)

http://www.tabloidgirlspictures.co.uk/girls/CAROL_CAPLIN/CAROL_CAPLIN.htm

Cherie Blair in new strife

British papers are now publishing what's said to be new evidence in the row over the involvement of the British Prime Minister's wife with Australian conman Peter Foster, and particularly his battle against deportation.

Matt Peacock in London.

MATT PEACOCK: Two days ago Cherie told all, or so people thought, about her friend and lifestyle guru, Carol Caplin, and her boyfriend, Australian fraudster Peter Foster.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/s746451.htm

Transcript: Private lives

how an Aussie conman got too close for comfort to Number 10 Downing Street. The conman is none other than our old friend Peter Foster, whose English girlfriend, Carol Caplin, just happens to be a close pal of Cherie Blair, wife of the British PM.

...

TV REPORTER 1: After days of official denials by 10 Downing Street, the PM's wife, Cherie Blair, was forced to admit today that she used a convicted conman to buy two flats in Bristol.


http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/stories/2003_02_23/story_769.asp

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

3. Apparently, a British remake of "I Spit on Your Grave"

"senior Whitehall source" = asshole fascist with no empathy for others...particularly Kelly's family.

Sick...sick...sick

JB

[dArKeR]

5. PM's office accused of smearing dead expert

London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office on Tuesday faced claims that it had sought to smear a dead government weapons expert at the centre of a row over how Britain went to war on Iraq, by describing him as a Walter Mitty-style fantasist.

The latest twist in a controversy that has bedevilled Blair came after The Independent newspaper quoted a senior government source as saying scientist David Kelly "was a Walter Mitty", a reference to a fictional character in literature who has delusions about his own importance.

The report laid the government open to charges of a deliberate attempt to undermine the reputation of the scientist, whose apparent suicide last month sparked the biggest political crisis of Blair's career.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1060052222923B216&set_id=1

[alaine]

7. If I wasn't already convinced that they offed him

this pretty much seals it up.

[Beetwasher]

6. So when are the Brits going to kick Blair out on his ass?

I'm waiting...Is it gonna happen?

[T_i_B]

8. Here is the Independent reported explaining himself

or rather explaining Blair's spin doctor. Not only is this story of great interest to the tin foil hat crowd IMHO but it also shows the Blairites changing their account of events as well to these eyes.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=431022

With the David Kelly affair still dogging the Government last week, it seemed the most obvious thing in the world to ring Tom Kelly, the Prime Minister's official spokesman, to get Downing Street's latest assessment.

Mr Kelly's first use of the phrase "Walter Mitty" was immediate. "The guy was a Walter Mitty," he said. Of course, I was taken aback by the description and what seemed to be a clear attempt to portray the MoD civil servant as a fantasist. Nevertheless, I continued to hear what was turning into a narrative sequence.

Mr Kelly went on, indicating his namesake had said far more than he should have, that he had become "very worried" about what he had said and subsequently "said not quite the truth to the MoD".

Dr Kelly "thought he was being clever" in his replies to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the spokesman suggested. But the scientist panicked when he discovered Andrew Gilligan was being recalled to appear before MPs.