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Death Of David Kelly
David Christopher Kelly (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum. A year after the publication of the 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction—wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foreign Affairs Select Committee
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 .... Membership Membership of the committee is as follows: Changes since 2024 2019-2024 Parliament The chair was elected on 29 January 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020. In 2022 Tom Tugendhat stepped down as the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee after assuming a ministerial role as Minister for Security. He was replaced by Alicia Kearns. Changes 2019-2024 2017–2019 Parliament The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Hakum (Iraq)
Al Hakum, also romanized Al Hakam, was at one time Iraq's most sophisticated and largest biological weapons (BW) production factory. The facility was part of a large military complex at Jurf Al Sakhar (Jur al-Sahkar), about 60-70 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, near al-Musayyib. It produced large quantities of botulinum toxin and anthrax from 1989 to 1996. The name derives from the common Arabic name or title Al Hakam ("The Judge"), one of the Names of God in the Qur'an. History In the early 1980s, Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) violated the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) by establishing extensive programs for the development of both chemical and biological weapons. Detailed confirmation of these programs only surfaced in the wake of the Gulf War (1990–91), following investigations conducted by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in charge of the disarmament of Saddam's Iraq. One of several BW facilities in Iraq, the "Single-Cell Protein Production Plant" at Al Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hutton Inquiry
The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour Party (UK), Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly (weapons expert), David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq. On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence, was found dead after he had been named as the source of quotations used by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. These quotations had formed the basis of media reports claiming that the government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The inquiry opened in August 2003 and reported on 28 January 2004. The Hutton report cleared the government of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman Gavyn Davies and director-general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom, royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet, and selects its Minister of the Crown, ministers. Modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, so they are invariably Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of Parliament. The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established Constitutional conventions of the United Kingdom, convention, whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to Confidence motions in the United Kingdom, command the confidence of the House of Commons. In practice, thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency), Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour Party (UK), Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair attended the independent s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Select Committee (United Kingdom)
In British politics, parliamentary select committees are cross-party groups of MPs or Lords which investigate specific issues or scrutinise the work of the Government of the United Kingdom. They can be appointed from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, from the House of Lords, or as a Joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, joint committee of Parliament drawn from both. Committees may be constituted as "sessional" committees – i.e. be near-permanent – or as "ad-hoc" committees with a specific deadline by which to complete their work, after which they cease to exist. House of Commons select committees are generally responsible for overseeing the work of government departments and agencies, whereas Lords select committees look at general issues, such as the British constitution, constitution or the economy. Select committees are also one of Parliament's mechanisms for holding the private sector to account. Following the 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intelligence And Security Committee Of Parliament
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, appointed to oversee the work of the UK intelligence community. The committee was established in 1994 by the Intelligence Services Act 1994, and its powers were reinforced by the Justice and Security Act 2013. Work of the committee The committee's statutory remit (under the Justice and Security Act 2013) is to examine the expenditure, administration, policy and operations of the security and intelligence Agencies; the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the MI5, Security Service (MI5) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence Staff, Defence Intelligence in the Ministry of Defence, the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office and the intelligence-related work of the Cabinet Office including the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) and the National Security Secretariat (NSS). The members of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Downing Street Director Of Communications
The Downing Street director of communications is the post of director of communications for the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The position is held by an appointed special adviser. In September 2022, as part of the incoming Truss ministry, the role was sub-divided into a political and non-political remit, with Adam Jones becoming the political director of communications and Simon McGee the director of government communications. The role sub-division was abolished during the Sunak ministry. History The position of Downing Street Director of Communications was created in 2000. The first holder of the position was Alastair Campbell who had previously served as the Downing Street press secretary and as the prime minister's official spokesperson. The position initially held the power to issue orders to civil servants, but this authority was removed after Campbell's departure in 2003. The post was temporarily vacant from April to July 2017 following the resignation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director in opposition (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary, and as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson (1997–2000). He then became Downing Street's director of communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003). Campbell was Political Editor at the ''Daily Mirror'' newspaper in the 1980s and of '' Today'' in the 1990s. In 1994, shortly after Blair was elected as Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Campbell left the ''Today'' newspaper to become Blair's press secretary. He was one of several key people responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its victory in the 1997 general election. In addition to being the press spokesman, Campbell was Blair's speechwri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Today (BBC Radio 4)
''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BBC News and is the highest-rated programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks. In-depth political interviews and reports are interspersed with regular news bulletins, as well as '' Thought for the Day''. It has been voted the most influential news programme in Britain in setting the political agenda, with an average weekly listening audience around 6 million. History ''Today'' was launched on the BBC Home Service on 28 October 1957 as a programme of "topical talks" to give listeners an alternative to listening to light music. The programme's founders were Isa Benzie and Janet Quigley. Benzie gave the programme its name and served as its first '' de facto'' editor. It was initially broadcast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya. He replaced Gwyneth Williams, who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM broadcast band, FM, Longwave, LW and Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it List of most-listened-to radio programs#Top stations in the United Kingdom, the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2. BBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Paul Gilligan (born 22 November 1968) is a British policy adviser and ex-journalist. He served as a special adviser to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, having previously worked as a transport adviser to Boris Johnson both as Mayor of London and as Prime Minister. He is now senior fellow and head of transport, infrastructure and London at the think-tank Policy Exchange. Until July 2019, Gilligan was senior correspondent of ''The Sunday Times'' and had also served as head of the Capital City Foundation at Policy Exchange. Between 2013 and 2016 he also worked as the Mayor's cycling commissioner for London, and in 2020 he was an appointee of Central Government to TfL's Board. He is best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme in which he described a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (the September Dossier) as having been "transformed in the week before it was published to make it sexier". This change became widely k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
