Allegations of biased reporting

• He dismisses claims that the BBC had an "anti-war agenda" and accuses Number 10 of trying to "intimidate" the BBC in its reporting of events leading up to the war.
• The BBC's job was to present an impartial picture, especially when there was widespread opposition to the war before the conflict.

• We have to believe that you are conducting a personal vendetta Richard Sambrook to Alastair Campbell BBC letter in full

  The BBC's Board of Governors have voiced "complete satisfaction" with the impartiality of reporting.
• BBC reports from Iraq about mass graves, torture and political repression have been used to justify the war.

The February Dossier

• Reporting of the September dossier has to be seen in the context of the February 2003 dossier, which even the foreign secretary has described as a "complete Horlicks".
• The way the February dossier, which included material plagiarised from an academic thesis, was discredited meant any decent journalist would inevitably question whether similar tactics had been used in September too.
• "We thus made a judgement that the information fitted into a pattern of concerns - and that it was perfectly proper to report the allegations made by Andrew Gilligan's source."

Unease in the security services

• A number of BBC journalists with close contacts with the military and security services had said their contacts were concerned intelligence reports were being exaggerated.
• Many journalists in other news organisations were receiving similar briefings.
• United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix criticised the manipulation of intelligence to make the case for war.
• Mr Campbell has "misrepresented our journalism" this week, accusing the BBC of making claims it has never made.
• The nub of the BBC's reports was unease in the intelligence community and the assertion from one senior and credible source that the claim of Iraq being able to launch banned weapons in 45 minutes was wrong and inserted into the dossier late.
• The letter specifically answers a series of questions posed by Mr Campbell in his earlier public letter to the BBC news director.

• "I do not accept the validity of your attacks on our journalism and on Andrew Gilligan in particular."
• "We have to believe that you are conducting a personal vendetta against a particular journalist whose reports on a number of occasions have caused you discomfort."
• Given the context of the claims and the credibility of the source, is Mr Campbell suggesting an independent broadcaster should have suppressed the story because it only had one source?
• The option of the government making a formal complaint to the BBC remains open.
• The BBC would express regret and tell its audiences if the information provided by its source proved to incorrect. "As we stand today, that is simply not the case."