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Tony Blair Financial Times Media

Tony Blair takes a drubbing in wall-to-wall press coverage of Chilcot Report findings

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By John Glenday, Reporter

July 7, 2016 | 2 min read

Former prime minister Tony Blair is back in the headlines, and not in a good way, following yesterday’s publication of the Chilcot Report into the Iraq war – seven years in gestation.

While some had anticipated a whitewash, the tome actually delivered a damning indictment of Blair’s decision to take the country to war and none of today’s (7 July) papers hold any punches.

The Mirror for instance has led with a damning memo sent to George W. Bush eight months prior to the conflict in which Blair stated "I’ll be with you whatever", while reporting that the legal case was "far from satisfactory."

the mirror chilcot front page

This same quote forms the lead headline in the Guardian which also notes Chilcot’s observation that the UK marched to war before "peaceful options had been exhausted."

Despite building public pressure for a legal action to be brought against him, Blair remained defiant stating that he would do the same thing again.

Over at the Daily Mail Blair was denounced as "a monster of delusion" in an editorial discussing Chilcot’s "scathing verdict", and accusing Blair of "sickening egomania" in his much-criticised response.

At the Sun meanwhile the infamous Iraq dossier is referenced with a 'Weapons Of Mass Deception' headline with the paper saying Blair was "savaged" for both rushing to war and resulting deaths in the report.

The Sun

The Financial Times optedfor a more sober assessment, describing the report as a "harsh verdict on Blair" while the Times states that the ex-PM was "crushed by Chilcot".

The Daily Telegraph also weighed in, pointing out that Blair's defiance ran contrary to Chilcot's chief findings, primarily that Saddam Hussein posed "no imminent threat" and that the invasion had taken place on the basis of "flawed intelligence" and "inadequate planning".

Tony Blair Financial Times Media

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