Blair, Bush did secret deal over Iraq War

‘I think it was an illegal war, I’m confident about that, indeed’

Ben Riley-Smith

The Chilcot report will reveal Tony Blair made a secret deal with George W Bush to support the Iraq War, Jeremy Corbyn has claimed.

The Labour leader said his predecessor’s warning Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons which could be activated within 45 minutes will be proved false.

The comments reignite a row that surfaced during the Labour leadership race about Corbyn’s stance on the party’s decision to intervene in Iraq.

Last year Corbyn said that Blair should stand trial for war crimes if it was found he had broken the law over the 2003 conflict.

Sir John Chilcot is due to publish his long-delayed findings from the inquiry into the Iraq War on 6 July – less than a fortnight after the EU referendum.

I think it was an illegal war, I’m confident about that, indeed Kofi Annan confirmed, it was an illegal war, said Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn criticised the New Labour government during a speech at London School of Economics to honour Ralph Miliband, the left-wing academic and father of Ed Miliband, on Tuesday. 

The Labour leader joked about having rebelled hundreds of times against Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments while a backbencher.

Corbyn went on: “Many of the good things that government did I supported, obviously. But I was not convinced of some of its actions or inactions that in effect reinforced much of the Thatcher agenda and inheritance.

“In the period New Labour undermined trust too. New Labour was often actually very unfairly tarnished with the label of spin. It actually spun no more than its predecessors or indeed its successors.

 “But we did go to war. The Chilcot report will come out in a few weeks’ time and tell us what we need to know, what I think we already know: There were no weapons of mass destruction, there was no ability to attack within 45 minutes and a deal had been done with Bush in advance.”

The comments refer to suggestion Blair agreed in principle to support an invasion of Iraq in April 2002 during a visit Mr Bush’s ranch in Crawford – around a year before the war begun.

Blair has always denied he agreed on taking military action months in advance of a vote in the House of Commons in March 2003.

This week reported surfaced that Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader, is sounding out other MPs to reassemble an attempt to impeach Mr Blair after the Chilcot report.

Last year Corbyn – then a contender for the Labour leadership - said that Tony Blair could be made to stand trial for war crimes over the invasion of Iraq.

Asked if Blair should be charged, Corbyn said: “If he’s committed a war crime, yes. Everyone who’s committed a war crime should be.

“I think it was an illegal war, I’m confident about that, indeed (former UN secretary general) Kofi Annan confirmed it was an illegal war, and therefore he has to explain to that.”Is he going to be tried for it, I don’t know. Could he be tried for it? Possibly.”