ReactionThe former BBC director general, Mr Greg Dyke, who lost his job following damning criticism of the BBC's conduct over an interview related to intelligence on Iraq, said elements of the Butler report supported some of what was asserted in the interview.
Mr Dyke was forced to resign after a report by Lord Hutton condemned the BBC strongly over an interview on Radio 4's Today programme in which its defence correspondent, Andrew Gilligan, asserted the British government exaggerated intelligence to bolster its case for war against Iraq.
"A couple of hours ago the Butler report was published and although it's too early for me to comment on it in any detail, I need to read it all before I do so, what is clear is that Butler states that some of the intelligence the government included in the dossier as part of the reasons for taking us to war should not have been used," Mr Dyke said yesterday.
"Butler appears to agree that the intelligence, as Dr \ Kelly [the weapons scientist who committed suicide when exposed as Mr Gilligan's source\] said, was 'sexed up'. What the Butler report doesn't tell us is who did the 'sexing up'."
Mr Dyke also said: "I left the BBC after a very unpleasant battle with the government and the publication of the Hutton report, a report which to this day makes very little sense to me. I think Hutton and I were living on different planets and attended a different inquiry . . .
"I would like to end by paying tribute to Dr David Kelly. This weekend is the first anniversary of the death of Dr Kelly and he was a brave man, prepared to speak out when he discovered something which he believed was very wrong."
Mr Gilligan praised the Butler report. "I am very pleased with Lord Butler's report, which supports much of what I already said - and what the government has always denied," he said.
"Although Lord Butler says he finds no evidence of deliberate embellishment or misleading, many of his findings of fact do exactly that. . .
"Lord Butler finds that more weight was placed on the intelligence than it could bear; that the Joint Intelligence Committee's neutrality and objectivity were strained by the dossier process: and that the JIC chairman must be a person beyond influence. He finds ministers misrepresented the quality, quantity and certainty of intelligence judgments to parliament and the public."