§ Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his comments before the Hutton Inquiry, what precedent the Permanent Secretary feared would be created in allowing Dr. Kelly to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee. [129707]
§ Mr. HoonI assume that my right hon. Friend is referring to the oral evidence which I gave on 27 August at pages 81–84 of the transcript. The concern about creating a precedent in fact related to the Intelligence and Security Committee, not the Foreign Affairs Committee. This is clear from Sir Kevin Tebbit's minute of 10 July which has been published on the Hutton Inquiry website (reference MOD/1/0075).