Chilcot report: Tony Blair claims findings show he did not lie over Iraq War

'The report does not make a finding on the legal basis for military action'

'I will respond in detail to them later this afternoon. I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse' (EPA)

Tony Blair has claimed the findings of the long-awaited Chilcot report "should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit" against him - and insisted the removal of Saddam Hussein was not to blame for terrorism.

The former Prime Minister is severely criticised by Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the Iraq war, and Mr Blair said he would "take full responsibility for any mistakes".

In the report, which took more than five years to compile, it claims the former Labour leader convinced himself that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, though the secret intelligence reports he had been shown “did not justify” his certainty.

But Mr Blair said his decisions were taken "in what I believed to be the best interests of the country" - and that he still believed "it was better to remove Saddam Hussein". He will already be familiar with the criticisms in the report due to Maxwellisation process – a system that allows those under fire from such a report to respond to the allegations in the report before publication.

Responding promptly to the report's findings, the former Labour leader added: “The report should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit. Whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country.

The inquiry, he adds, “does not make a finding on the legal basis for military action but finds that the Attorney General had concluded there was such a lawful basis 13th March 2003”.

Mr Blair continues: “However the report does make real and material criticisms of preparation, planning, process and of the relationship with the United States. These are serious criticisms and they require serious answers.

“I will respond in detail to them later this afternoon. I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse.

“I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world.

“Above all I will pay tribute to our Armed Forces. I will express my profound regret at the loss of life and the grief it has caused the families, and I will set out the lessons I believe future leaders can learn from my experience.”

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, however, tweeted that the report "does no such thing. On the contrary, in fact."

In his findings, Sir John said Mr Blair convinced himself that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, though the secret intelligence reports he had been shown "did not justify" his certainty.

Sir John also directly contradicted Mr Blair’s assertion to the Iraq Inquiry that the fall-out from the conflict could not have been known in advance. He said that risks of internal strife, regional instability and the burgeoning of al Qaeda in Iraq “were each explicitly identified”.

Planning and preparations for Iraq after Hussein were “wholly inadequate”, the long-awaited report concludes.

However Alistair Campbell, Blair’s pugnacious Director of Communications has been cleared by Sir John Chilcot of the often-repeated accusation that he ‘sexed up’ an intelligence dossier that was presented to Parliament before the Iraq war.

“There is no evidence that intelligence was improperly included in the dossier or that No 10 improperly influenced the text,” the report concludes.