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Row erupts in Britain over remarks about scientist

The British government denied on Monday that it had officially criticized a Ministry of Defense scientist who committed suicide as a Walter Mitty character who exaggerated his role in the country's intelligence gathering regarding Iraq.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman, Tom Kelly, on Monday night put his hands up and admitted that he might have used the expression "Walter Mitty" when discussing what could have driven the Iraq weapons scientist to his apparent suicide.

The Independent newspaper reported Monday morning that the comparison had been made by an unidentified senior government official as part of a deliberate attempt by Blair's office to criticize the scientist, whose funeral will take place today.

The suicide last month of Ministry of Defense scientist David Kelly has damaged Blair's popularity and credibility.

After his death, the BBC identified Kelly as the main source of a piece it had broadcast that quoted an anonymous official as claiming the government had inflated the threat from Iraq to justify war, an accusation Blair vehemently denies.

Lord Hutton, a senior appeals judge, is heading a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Kelly's death.

The Independent newspaper said a senior Blair government source had compared Kelly to Mitty, the daydreaming protagonist of a 1941 James Thurber story, and had called the government weapons expert a fantasist.

Kelly, who had worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq, assisted in the creation of one of the dossiers that Blair's government presented to the public before the Iraq war to justify the conflict. But the officiDuoted by The Independent suggested that Kelly had exaggerated how much he knew about the document while being interviewed by the BBC.

"This guy was a Walter Mitty," the source was quoted as saying.

On Monday, a Blair government spokeswoman first said she did not know where the disparaging comment had originated and that neither the prime minister nor anyone else in his office would say such a thing.

But on Monday night, the spokeswoman made another statement effectively acknowledging that an unidentified government official had spoken to The Independent about Kelly.

But as Downing Street distanced itself from the remark, Kelly let it be known that he was simply mulling over the possibilities with a reporter who misinterpreted his remarks as a calculated effort to smear the man at the heart of the row between No. 10 and the BBC.

In a separate statement, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott criticized any attempt to berate the late scientist.

Prescott, who is currently leading the government while Blair is on vacation in Barbados, said: "I do not believe these unsubstantiated remarks about Dr. Kelly. I trust that no one in the government would comment on Dr. Kelly at such a sensitive time."

This raises the unsavory prospect that both sides will cast doubt on the late Kelly's conduct when they give evidence to Lord Hutton's judicial inquiry. The BBC will claim it faithfully reported what an expert told its reporters, while Whitehall will suggest Kelly -- the BBC's "single source" -- spoke about things beyond his direct knowledge.

Whatever the exact facts in the normally arcane nuances between formal media contacts and non-attributable background chat, Downing Street was keen to "leave it to Lord Hutton."

Also, a poll published on Monday indicated that more Britons trust the BBC than Blair, thanks to the aftermath of the Iraq war.
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