The former No 10 spin doctor Alastair Campbell suggested setting lawyers on the BBC, while Tony Blair was warned to expect a “magisterial rebuke” from senior figures at the broadcaster, as the row over its coverage of the war in Iraq intensified in the early 2000s, government papers show.
The Cabinet Office files, placed in the National Archives on Friday, illustrate the extent of the animosity between Blair’s No 10 and the BBC.
“If the BBC remain belligerent, I think the rhetoric has to be stepped up, up to and including the threat of putting the issue in the hands of lawyers,” Campbell wrote to Blair, the then prime minister, on 6 July 2003, as he set out proposals for the government’s spin operation.
And, despite his infamous appearance on Channel 4 News a little more than a week earlier, Campbell suggested returning to the airwaves to personally attack the BBC’s reporting.
The June appearance, a last-minute affair that came as he abandoned an initial attempt to limit his public response to a short statement, had led some critics to claim he had “completely lost the plot” and been seen to “self-destruct on television”. Yet, days later, Campbell suggested repeating a similar approach.
“I think I should do something because it will look like I’m running away from the difficult parts of the report if I don’t,” he told Blair, as a committee of MPs prepared to release their findings on the compilation of the so-called “dodgy dossiers” drawn up to make the case for war in Iraq.
“The options are a written statement, a statement to camera with no questions, a statement to camera with questions, one-on-ones with the political editors, interview and or discussion on WATO [BBC Radio 4’s World at One], Channel 4, Newsnight or a Radio 5 phone-in.”
That came after a tense exchange of letters between Campbell, Blair and senior BBC bosses over the BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Iraq, including the Today programme’s report that May – subsequently the object of serious criticism by the Hutton inquiry – that No 10 had exaggerated the case for war.
Making clear the state of relations between No 10 and the BBC, Campbell wrote to the broadcaster’s then director of news, Richard Sambrook, on 29 June 2003, telling him he respected the BBC’s independence, “if not in this instance its competence”.
And, even before the Today report aired, Blair had written to the then BBC chair, Gavyn Davies, criticising the BBC’s “unacceptable” output on Iraq.
The files show Blair was warned by his trusted adviser Anji Hunter to expect strong censure from him for sending an identical letter to the then director-general, Greg Dyke.
The Today report, and the fallout, contributed to the death by suicide of the MoD scientist Dr David Kelly, who had spoken to the BBC on an off-the-record basis before its airing.
By July 2003, the files suggest Campbell had become keen to avoid further inflaming the situation. He said the government wanted to avoid appearing to link the forthcoming BBC charter review with the row, as well as to give Kelly’s family time to conduct his funeral and grieve.
The files also showed that Blair was warned the No 10 press office had lost “all credibility” under Campbell’s combative manner.
Papers released show Blair’s private secretary, Jeremy Heywood, advised him that his own authority was being undermined because Downing Street was seen as a “politically-dominated spin machine”.
After Campbell announced in August 2003 he was standing down after nine years as one of Blair’s most trusted aides, Heywood urged the prime minister to take the opportunity to carry out a complete overhaul of the No 10 press operation.
“The No 10 press office has lost all credibility as a reliable, truthful, objective operation. Even respectable journalists treat it with caution – part of a relentless politically-dominated spin machine,” he wrote.
“Although we all know this is monstrous, it has become the settled view of the entire British media and political establishment. This is disastrous for the authority of your own office.”
In response to Friday’s release of the files, Campbell said: “Despite the bitterness of the row at the time, I bear no ill will to the BBC and have been a strong defender when it has come under attack from the right wing of the Tory party and their media cheerleaders.”
A spokesperson for Blair declined to comment.
