The Hutton inquiry THE HUTTON INQUIRY into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly will hold a preliminary hearing tomorrow, Friday 1 August. It will then adjourn and will not start taking evidence until after Dr Kelly's funeral on Wednesday of next week. Much of the preliminary hearing will be taken up with submissions made by barristers appearing on behalf of ITN and Sky News, who will argue that the entire proceedings should be opened up to television cameras. Lord Hutton will listen patiently, nod sagely at the appropriate moments and give every appearance of being open to persuasion on this point. He will then retire to consider the submissions he has heard. After an appropriate period of time he will return in order to rule against the presence of TV cameras. The barristers will then go back to their chambers content, having earned between them the equivalent of my annual income (or perhaps considerably more). Thus will begin one of the most important inquiries ever held into honesty and deception in British public life. The Hutton inquiry now has its own website where transcripts of the day's evidence and other information will be posted throughout the proceedings. For this website, click here. An extensive commentary on the Kelly affair, together with a small library of carefully chosen links, will appear on this site before Lord Hutton starts to take evidence. The links will include one to Tim Lott's article on Dr Kelly's suicide, which was published  in the Times.  They will also include an earlier article from the Times which appears now to have got the entire story spectacularly wrong. Appearances, however, are sometimes deceptive. Related stories The Kelly affair: a library of links 31 July 2003  …………………………………………………………………… © Richard Webster, 2003 www.richardwebster.net TOP Home Introduction Sampler Search Contact