THE BBC insists it was right to report the remarks of a source within British intelligence services about the Iraq dossier.

At present, only the BBC is privy to the information on which its report was based.

Unless that judgement is called into question by the ongoing investigations by separate parliamentary committees, the corporation's integrity should be respected and admired.

It is somewhat strange for Alastair Campbell and Labour ministers to pre-judge the outcome of those investigations with their onslaught on the BBC and individual members of staff.

Yesterday Mr Campbell appeared in no mood to relent.

Presumably, with the support of his elected masters, this Downing Street civil servant questioned the journalistic and professional competence of the BBC.

These are grave and serious allegations, as yet without foundation, which go to the very heart of the BBC's values and traditions.

Mr Campbell would have been better advised to keep quiet on the subject.

By keeping this issue at the forefront of the news agenda, Mr Campbell and Labour ministers only serve to raise further doubts about their own competence.

Is a Government which admits plagiarising a 12-year-old academic thesis to include in a dossier justifying war against Iraq really fit to question anyone else's integrity?

Mr Campbell may be reluctant to let this matter drop because he feels sincerely that he and the Government have been wronged. If he is so convinced, then he should have the confidence to await the parliamentary committee reports.

But it may also be that keeping the heat on the BBC creates a political sideshow which deflects attention from the inadequacies in the Government's case for the war against Iraq.

The apparent obsession with spin and presentation has been the most negative feature of this Government's record.

Mr Campbell's hounding of the BBC only serves to confirm the suspicion of many people that the Government is pre-occupied with a control freakery that will eventually prove to be the biggest contributory factor in its downfall.