Blair 'scared to fall out with Bush' in run-up to Iraq war

That is the damning portrait of the former Prime Minister that emerges from the highest level of the British and American governments in the latest extracts of a new book by political biographer Dr Anthony Seldon.

The attacks are led by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell who, according to Blair Unbound, secretly plotted with ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to restrain Mr Bush and Mr Blair.

They will do little to help Mr Blair shrug off claims that he was Mr Bush's "poodle".

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Mr Powell told Dr Seldon of his incredulity at Mr Blair's gung-ho support for Mr Bush as the war loomed.

He says: "In the end Blair would always support the President. I found this very surprising. I thought, well, the Brits haven't been attacked on 9/11.

"How did he reach the point that he sees Saddam as such a threat?

"Jack and I would get him all pumped up about an issue. And he'd be ready to say, 'Look here, George.' But as soon as he saw the President he would lose his steam."

Dr Seldon also reveals that both Mr Blair's No10 foreign policy adviser, Sir David Manning, and his senior Downing Street political adviser, Baroness Sally Morgan, argued against the war.

He says that in 2002 Mr Blair resolved to write to Mr Bush and tell him of his fears that the momentum for war was growing too fast in America.

But he "faltered and pulled his punches" and effectively told the President: "You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I'll be with you."

According to the book, Britain's ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, was horrified: "'Why in God's name has he said that again?' he asked Manning.

"'Well, we tried to stop him... but we didn't prevail,' came the weary response."

It also discloses how Mr Straw was sidelined before the war and sacked afterwards for not giving Blair enough support.

One official is quoted as saying: "The fact is that Tony Blair was his own Foreign Secretary. There was no clear slot for Jack Straw."

Over the next year a "despairing" Straw and Powell joined forces to try to stop the headlong rush to war. It culminated in Mr Straw flying by Concorde to the US for secret talks with Mr Powell.

Mr Blair's private doubts about Mr Bush dated back to the attacks on the World Trade Center when the President took to the skies in Air Force One, the book says.

"Blair was troubled that Bush's priority appeared to be keeping out of danger."

And, towards the end of his Downing Street days, the PM thought America's military "surge" in Iraq should have linked to a "political surge".

Dr Seldon writes: "But, as ever, Blair refrained from expressing his frustration in public.

"We had been in there with him from the start," explained one official, "and at this very late stage the Prime Minister did not want to be seen to fall out with George Bush."