London, Feb. 1 (Reuters): British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government systematically bullied the BBC over its Iraq war coverage, bombarding it with complaints to try to push its own point of view, the BBC’s former boss said today.

Greg Dyke resigned as director general of the publicly funded broadcaster last week after senior judge Lord Hutton criticised the BBC in his inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly.

Dyke said Blair’s top spin doctor Alastair Campbell had written letter after letter throughout the conflict. “What Alastair Campbell was clearly trying to do was intimidate the BBC so that we reported what he wanted us to report as opposed to what we wanted to report,” he said.

The Hutton inquiry lambasted the BBC for a report accusing the government of exaggerating the case for war against Iraq, putting the broadcaster’s status as a self-governing pillar of British life in doubt.

The BBC’s charter is up for review, staff are angry and many are concerned its trademark independence could be curtailed.

Dyke said he had been right to resist the barrage of pressure from Blair’s government in the past, and warned if the BBC ever caved in to similar pressure in the future, it would spell its demise.