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Inquiry urged into No 10 hacking claim
By Nigel Morris Political Correspondent
12 August 2002
The Tories last night demanded an investigation by the head of the civil
service into allegations by the BBC's senior foreign correspondent, John
Simpson, that Downing Street had hacked into the Corporation's newsroom
computers.
Simpson has claimed that government officials had contacted journalists
asking them to tone down reports before they had even been broadcast. Downing
Street dismissed the allegations as "utter drivel".
But David Davis, who shadows John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister,
called for Andrew Turnbull, the incoming Cabinet Secretary, to investigate
the allegations when he takes up his post. He also wrote to the chairman of
the BBC Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, asking what steps had been taken
to investigate the claims.
In a new book, Simpson writes that BBC managers ordered an inquiry after
staff reported their concerns following Labour's 1997 general election
victory.
The investigation was said to have centred on former BBC employees who
may still have known passwords and may have been able to gain access to the
system. Although no proof was found, the BBC newsroom switched to a more
secure computer system shortly afterwards.
A BBC spokesman said last night there had not been any
"formal" investigation into the claims. He added: "Although
we don't discuss issues of security, if there was any abuse we would put a
stop to it."
In his book, News from No Man's Land, Simpson also admitted he
had fabricated a crowd scene in Saudi Arabia. When he arrived with a film
crew with 90 minutes to shoot footage in Riyadh, its capital, he found the
streets deserted.
Simpson said a translator helped him persuade drinkers in a teahouse to
mill about outside. He said: "They were extraordinarily wooden ...
None of this mattered to me – these were real people; this was a real
street."
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