Blair to debate Iraq war

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has agreed to take part in a Commons debate on the Butler report next week, reports the Financial Times, London.

It will give opposition MPs another opportunity to question his use of "seriously flawed" intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The prime minister will defend his decision to go to war in on Tuesday after opposition leader Michael Howard yesterday decided to lead it himself and pressed Mr Blair to join him. The Tory leader said Mr Blair had misled the public by not revealing the qualified nature of the intelligence assessments, the Times said.

It said the Conservatives are eager to

keep the heat on Mr Blair in the hope that, despite Lord Butler's decision not to pin the blame on individuals, the criticisms and questions in the report will erode his credibility. They also feel that Mr Blair will not be able to keep pointing to Mr Howard's support for the war to evade questions about why warnings about the limitations of intelligence were excluded from the dossier and the prime minister's speeches.

However, the article said Cabinet ministers showed little sign of remorse for the failings identified in Lord Butler's report. Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, said that in four inquiries into the decision to go to war, "none of the charges that have been made by any of the critics of the prime minister or the government have been sustained".