Iraq 'has ruined case for liberal interventionism'

Tony Blair has been told that his foreign policy of intervening in the world's troublespots to uphold democracy is in tatters because of the disaster in Iraq.

Senior Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs challenged the Prime Minister over whether his "liberal intervention" strategy would survive after he leaves office next week because other countries were turning against it. They clashed with Mr Blair when he was quizzed for the last time by the Commons Liaison Committee, which is composed of the chairman of all the select committees.

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Mike Gapes, the Labour chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the case for intervening in other countries in future would be "discredited and undermined" by the experience in Iraq. He added that Mr Blair's strategy was now "out of step" with opinion around the world.

Edward Leigh, a senior Tory MP, asked Mr Blair pointedly whether he was "in a state of denial" over Iraq, saying it would be engraved on his political tombstone. He asked whether "in the dark watches of the night" the thousands of people who had died in Iraq returned to haunt him.

Mr Blair replied that he did not take lightly the "deep and profound responsibility" of sending British forces to war because he was a "human being". But he insisted his decision was right. If Saddam Hussein was still running Iraq, the world would face a different set of problems, he said.

The Prime Minister admitted there were "varying degrees of enthusiasm" for intervention among other countries and said other nations needed to "step up to the mark" to help coalition forces in Afghanistan.

But he denied that the case for intervention had waned, saying he wanted to see that happen in Darfur. "I believe we will be pushed in this direction as a world," he said. "We cannot be in a situation where the harder they [terrorists] fight, the less is our will to succeed. If we are not careful we will be in that situation ... Are we prepared for the long haul? That is the real issue."

Mr Blair denied he would not be leaving office if it were not for the Iraq war. "In the end, you take a decision of that importance on the basis of what you believe to be right and you stand or fall by it," he said.

He dismissed reports claiming he had warned before the invasion that there had been insufficient preparations. "I wasn't warning about about the lack of preparation, I was saying it was important that we were prepared," he told the MPs.

On domestic issues, Mr Blair said he still personally favours members of the House of Lords being appointed, even though MPs voted in March for 80 per cent of the second chamber to be elected. His advice to MPs was: "Be really cautious of trying to replicate the House of Commons in the House of Lords. I don't think that really works."

The Prime Minister was challenged over his speech last week attacking the media for the way they reported politics and for ignoring Parliament. Peter Luff, a Tory MP, accused Mr Blair of downgrading Parliament and rarely turning up for votes.

Mr Blair insisted that what mattered was not his voting record but that he had made himself more accountable than previous prime ministers by answering MPs' questions and appearing before the Liaison Committee.

On public services, Mr Blair regretted not moving faster on reform earlier in his premiership, admitting that changes had not been pursued with enough vigour until the past two or three years. He also acknowledged that the Government had not done enough to praise the "good job" done by public sector workers, many of whom have turned against it.