Blair sought secret IRA peace talks

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Jonathan Powell said the former Prime Minister was convinced he could use talks to persuade the banned terror group's Army Council to give up their weapons.

"Tony was always convinced of the powers of persuasion that he had to win people over," Mr Powell told The Guardian, which is serialising his book about the Ulster peace process.

"About three or four times he suggested to (Sinn Fein leader) Gerry Adams that he should meet the IRA Army Council. Adams said 'well I'm not really sure about that'.

"One time he said 'yes, maybe', but then it came to nothing," said Mr Powell, adding that the IRA men "could have worn masks" to conceal their identities.

Mr Powell, who was one of the former PM's key advisers throughout his 10 years in Downing Street, was a key player in securing the Good Friday Agreement.

He defended the decision to concentrate on dealings with Sin Fein and to offer concessions.

"We certainly believed there was every chance that the IRA might go back to violence, just as they had with the Canary Wharf bomb (in 1996)," he said.

The revelation of the proposed meetings with the IRA came as Mr Powell said the Ulster experience suggested the Government should also talk to al Qaida.

"With any of these sort of groups, you need to have some sort of channel of communication which to start with will not be particularly useful but in the end gives you the way of making peace," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show. "Unless you believe that there is a purely military solution you can find to any of these disputes, at some stage you are going to have to talk to the people you are fighting."