Blair 'fooled into going to war by Bush promises'

Sir David Manning, who departs as Britain's ambassador to Washington next month, claimed that the former Prime Minister did not want "to go by the military route".

But he was assured by Mr Bush and his advisers that America had properly planned for what happened after the invasion.

Sir David, who was one of Mr Blair's key advisers in the run up to the conflict, admitted that the plans had been a "failure" and that the aftermath of regime change was "badly handled".

He also acknowledged that the Government's claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction were a mistake.

His suggestion that Mr Blair did not want to go to war contradicts reports that the former PM was signed up to the offensive from as early as 2002 - nearly a year before the conflict began.

In an interview with the New Statesman magazine, Sir David said: "Until very late he hoped there would be an international coalition that would work through the UN."

He added Mr Blair "was always in favour of regime change, but that did not mean he always wanted regime change through military means.

"He must have known it might come to military action, but I have always believed he hoped and probably believed there was a way of getting there by using the UN to put pressure on Saddam.

"I don't think he ever wanted to go by the military route."

Sir David went on to say that Mr Blair did not appear to have signed up to war during a private dinner with Mr Bush at his Texan ranch in April

He said: "If he did, he didn't do it in my hearing. He didn't talk to me as a Prime Minister saying to me, 'I've made up my mind, we're going to war with Iraq'."

Sir David insisted that even in late 2002, Mr Blair suggested to Mr Bush that if weapons searches by the UN's chief inspector Hans Blix succeeded, military action might be unnecessary.

"He knew what the stakes were," he said.

"He accepted it might come 0to this, but he always wanted to do it in a different way. I've always believed he would much rather it hadn't taken place."

But the ambassador said that Mr Bush assured Mr Blair that he was "very confident" about the post-war plans - and he believed him.

"We now know that the preparations were all blocked," Sir David said.

"There were plans made and deployed in the State Department, but in the end the State Department wasn't allowed to take the job."

Sir David went on to admit: "Was a key period mishandled and opportunities lost?

"Yes. I don't think anybody can see that the immediate post-war situation was anything other than a failure.

"We had hoped that rapidly the situation would stabilise, that it would be possible to introduce reconciliation, get the economy moving quickly and rebuild society.

"Did it happen quickly? No. We failed. We were over-optimistic."

Sir David also insisted that Mr Blair did not lie to the British public about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

He said: "He believed the weapons of mass destruction story. It's not true that it was made up and that he always knew it was made up.

"Was it wrong? Yes. But the idea that he somehow sat down and confected this story and that was the justification for the policy he opted for is not true.

"We don't have a very good track record on intelligence on Iraq. It was a pretty bad mistake. The tendency had always been to underestimate what Saddam was up to."