Damned spot

It's telling that the one specific episode which Tony Blair mentioned in his media critique speech (the "feral beasts" speech¹) as an example of how "the facts" get obscured in a media frenzy is Iraq-related. Specifically --

It is also hard for the public to know the facts, even when subject to the most minute scrutiny, if those facts arise out of issues of profound controversy, as the Hutton Inquiry showed.

I would only point out that the Hutton Inquiry (along with 3 other inquiries) was a six month investigation in which I as Prime Minister and other senior Ministers and officials faced unprecedented public questioning and scrutiny. The verdict was disparaged because it was not the one the critics wanted. But it was an example of being held to account, not avoiding it. But leave that to one side.

The Hutton-Butler report sequence, albeit in their delicately phrased way, left plenty out there for people who doubt Blair's good faith on Iraq, not least in the finding that WMD intelligence was assembled to make the strongest case possible that Iraq had WMD (as opposed to a consensus case) and that the Cabinet did decide to put David Kelly's name into play through a game of 20 questions with the media. So it's odd that Blair brings that episode up with a sense of vindication, although it could also be a guilty conscience.

¹ The speech is also reproduced in the WSJ Online.