Doctors accuse Dominic Grieve of David Kelly death cover-up

The body of Dr Kelly, a government weapons inspector, was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after he had been revealed as the source of a BBC report questioning the accuracy of a government dossier arguing for the Iraq war.

The Hutton inquiry in 2004 found that Dr Kelly had committed suicide, and then-justice secretary Lord Falconer ruled the inquiry could take the place of an inquest in the coroner's court.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Grieve told MPs that the evidence that Dr Kelly took his own life was "overwhelming."

There was no evidence to support claims he was murdered or "any kind of conspiracy theory," he said.

But a group of doctors led by Dr Stephen Frost has pointed out that Lord Hutton spent only half a day of his 24-day inquiry considering the cause of Dr Kelly's death.

They have denounced the Hutton report as a "whitewash" which "failed adequately to address the cause of death itself and the manner of death."

They further argued: "No coroner in the land would have reached a suicide verdict on the evidence which Lord Hutton heard."

Dr Frost said it was "very surprising and perplexing that the Attorney General today supports those who wish to deny Dr Kelly a proper inquest.

"This is clearly a political decision when it should have been a decision based solely on the law," he said.

"This government has now revealed itself to be complicit in a determined and concerted cover-up."