BBC chairman resigns after Hutton criticism

The chairman of the BBC resigned yesterday and the broadcaster apologised for some of its reporting on the buildup to the war in Iraq after an inquiry by a senior judge lambasted the corporation.

The inquiry by Lord Hutton criticised journalist Andrew Gilligan, the BBC's management and its supervisory board of governors, for a radio report saying the government "sexed up" intelligence in a dossier on Iraqi weapons.

Lord Hutton said the BBC report was unfounded. He said the BBC's editorial system was "defective" in allowing Mr Gilligan's report to air and the governors should have investigated it in the aftermath, during which weapons expert David Kelly was unmasked as Mr Gilligan's source and committed suicide.

Gavyn Davies, chairman of the BBC board of governors, tendered his resignation after the publication of the report, with immediate effect.

"I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee and that the referee's decision is final," he said in a statement.

"There is an honourable tradition in British public life that those charged with authority at the top of an organisation should accept responsibility for what's happened in that organisation."

The report also brought a public apology from BBC Director General Greg Dyke, who said: "The BBC does accept that certain key allegations reported by Andrew Gilligan on the Today programme on May 29 last year were wrong and we apologise for them."

Lord Hutton's findings will strengthen BBC critics who say the broadcaster should fall under the oversight of media regulator Ofcom. Conservative leader Michael Howard said the case for outside regulation of the BBC "has never been stronger".

The broadcaster's feud with Prime Minister Tony Blair's government comes as the publicly funded broadcaster is about to undergo a parliamentary review of its charter, and at a time when the mandatory licence fee that provides most of its funding is under fire from the private sector.

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications, who was at the centre of the dispute after being named by Mr Gilligan as the official who "sexed up" the dossier, said the BBC would have to decide what action to take now.

"What the report shows very clearly is the prime minister told the truth, the government told the truth, I told the truth. The BBC, from the chairman and the director general on down, did not," Mr Campbell told a news conference.

"The BBC will have to decide itself what action to take to restore its reputation and integrity."

The BBC made pre-emptive reforms ahead of the Hutton report's release yesterday. In December it appointed an executive to oversee complaints and compliance, and tightened rules about its journalists writing for outside publications.

The National Union of Journalists, representing Mr Gilligan, said the BBC could face a strike if he was disciplined or fired. The union said the Hutton report was "selective, grossly one-sided and a serious threat to the future of investigative journalism".

"The obvious implication is that the BBC's governance structure will come under the spotlight," said Damian Tambini, a media law expert at Oxford University. "People are already starting to ask questions about whether such a powerful institution should govern itself."