Tony Blair remained hopeful that war in Iraq could be avoided until days before military action began, Alastair Campbell has told an inquiry.
To the point of the House of Commons vote… right to that point, he was hopeful it could be resolved peacefully,” Mr Campbell said.

Mr Blair’s priority was to disarm Saddam Hussein and he wanted to pursue the issue through the United Nations, the former spin doctor said.

The Chilcot inquiry has been trying to get Mr Campbell to pinpoint when Mr Blair came to agree with “regime change”, the policy of US President George Bush.

“Campbell denies Bush persuaded Blair to go to back the war regardless of the UN.
“He claims the UK position is consistent throughout: military action might eventually be necessary, but try every other option first.”

Mr Blair had always been concerned about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction but the terror attacks of September 11 2001 changed the context of those views, Mr Campbell said.

“The tolerance level of allowing Saddam to defy UN resolutions, that’s what changed,” he said.

The inquiry panel is expected to ask Mr Campbell if he “sexed up” a crucial dossier from September 2002 which made the case for war.

It claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that could be deployed in 45 minutes. No such weapons were ever found.

The dramatic allegation led to a furious row with the BBC and resulted in the suicide of government scientist Dr David Kelly – the source of the claims.

It has been suggested the former spin doctor wrote the foreward to the dossier, which claimed the evidence against Iraq was “beyond doubt”.

Sky’s senior news correspondent Michelle Clifford said: “We expect the inquiry today to press him very hard on why he put it in such stark terms.

“If they don’t, people will go away with the feeling this inquiry is a whitewash, that it is pointless.”

Mr Campbell is the most high-profile person to appear before the panel so far. He was director of communications between 1997 and 2003.