- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 24 August 2003 12.02 BST
The Metropolitan Police considered this move after the Government scientist was named as a possible source of documents handed to Andrew Gilligan, the BBC reporter at the centre of the row between the Government and the corporation over claims that Number 10 'sexed up' intelligence to make a stronger case for war on Iraq.
The document, which was stamped Top Secret UK Eyes Only, revealed that the intelligence services felt there was no link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.
Gilligan ran a report last February, which led to the police investigation that brought the threat of arrest.
Kelly was subsequently cleared of all the allegations, although the police move reveals how seriously the matter was taken.
The scientist was strongly defended by the Ministry of Defence's security arm which felt the police were over-reacting. John Cochrane, of the MoD's Defence Security Unit said he had discussed the issue with Richard Hatfield, the MoD head of personnel.
'He confirms that we are to resist any attempt by the police to interview Kelly or anyone who has interviewed him,' Cochrane said.
One of the reasons for resisting a police interview request was because the MoD had 'no reason to suspect' the scientist had broken the Official Secrets Act, he added.
Documents released by the Hutton inquiry last night also reveal that Kelly thought that including the 45 minutes claim in the September dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was a mistake.
It is the first directly corroborating evidence that Kelly had serious doubts about the 45 minute claim. In private evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee, he said its inclusion was 'probably unwise' and said he agreed with a sceptical assessment of the claim by Hans Blix, the former head of the United Nation's weapons inspectors in Iraq.
Kelly's evidence is revealed in a letter from Peter Watkins, private secretary to Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, to his opposite number in the Foreign Office released by the Hutton Inquiry as one of thousands of pages of new evidence.
It backs Gilligan's claims that Kelly told him of his doubts and will re-ignite the controversy over whether the Government and the intelligence services should have included it in the September dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Kelly insisted under interrogation at the MoD that all he had said about the 45-minute claim was that it was 'probably [used] for impact'.
But his evidence to the ISC paints a different picture. For the first time, Kelly 'aligned himself with Blix's view'.
